MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Friday dismissed speculation that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had fallen out of favour with Vladimir Putin after efforts to organise a summit between the Russian president and Donald Trump were put on ice last month.
Lavrov, a veteran diplomat known for his robust negotiating style, spoke by phone to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on October 20 to discuss the possible Budapest summit between Putin and Trump, which was to have focused on a potential peace deal for Ukraine.
Official statements from both sides afterwards did not suggest the call had gone badly, but a day later Trump said that he did not want to hold a meeting that would be “a waste of time”. He later said he had cancelled the summit because it “just didn’t feel right.”
Lavrov’s absence from an important meeting of Russia’s Security Council this week, and Putin’s decision to send a Kremlin deputy chief of staff instead of Lavrov to head Russia’s delegation at a G20 summit later this month, have fuelled speculation that Putin is angry with the minister.
Putin has made it clear that, aside from the Ukraine issue, he believes that a rapprochement between Moscow and Washington is in Russia’s national interest and important for global security, given the two countries possess vast nuclear arsenals.
The idea of a falling-out between the two men has been picked up by some anonymous Telegram channels inside Russia and by Russian-language outlets critical of the Kremlin, as well as by Ukrainian media.
Asked on Friday if Lavrov had fallen out of favour with Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the idea.
“I will give you a brief answer: there is nothing true in these reports,” Peskov told reporters.
Asked to confirm that Lavrov would continue to work in his current role, Peskov added: “Absolutely. Lavrov is working as foreign minister, of course.”
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov;Writing by Andrew OsbornEditing by Mark Trevelyan)
