The news from Moscow isn’t exactly news at all. Russia’s top diplomat is still working.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday moved to quell intense media speculation about possible personnel changes at the highest levels of Russian foreign policy. reason? Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov skipped a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Wednesday, when President Vladimir Putin hinted at the possibility of a full-scale nuclear test.
“There is absolutely no truth in these reports,” Peskov said in a phone call with reporters on Friday. “Of course, Mr. Lavrov will continue to serve as foreign minister.”
To explain why this is news, we need to explain a little Kremlinology. On Wednesday, Russian business daily Kommersant raised eyebrows when it reported, citing “sources,” that the veteran diplomat had “absent by agreement” a high-level meeting with President Putin.
Additionally, observers noted that Lavrov was the only permanent member of the Security Council to be absent from the meeting. At the same time, it was revealed that the foreign minister will not lead the Russian delegation to the G20 summit in Johannesburg later this month. On November 4, President Putin signed a decree appointing a lower-ranking official, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin, as head of the delegation.
Inquisitive minds immediately wondered: “Did Mr. Lavrov have a falling out with President Putin, and was this a sign of possible changes within the Russian government?”
News of Lavrov’s absence comes just weeks after plans for a direct meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest collapsed. Mr. Lavrov was the key Russian figure in making it happen, but the summit was frozen after a phone call between Mr. Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. officials said Russia has not changed its extremist position toward Ukraine. The Trump administration followed this up with new sanctions against Moscow.
But if there is a backlash in Moscow over an apparent diplomatic setback, the Kremlin appears keen to keep its internal squabbles out of public view. Asked by CNN if Lavrov was still in office, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lavrov was still in office. He acknowledged his absence from Wednesday’s meeting, adding: “But things like that happen.”
Lavrov has been the face of Russian diplomacy for more than 20 years and previously served as Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations. He served Putin faithfully through periods of intense conflict between Russia and the West, from the brief Russo-Georgian war in 2008, the invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, to Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war in 2015. He has also vigorously defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Lavrov, 75, has also honed a brash, confrontational style of diplomacy that has often aligned with Putin’s imperialist aspirations. At a recent summit with President Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, the Russian foreign minister arrived wearing a sweater emblazoned with the logo of CCCP, the Cyrillic initials of the Soviet Union.
But trolling may have its limits, especially when it comes to the Trump administration. After President Trump threatened to cancel the talks in Budapest, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of a Russian sovereign wealth fund and a special Kremlin envoy, flew to the United States in what some observers saw as damage control.
But loyalty and continuity remain important under President Putin. Last year, for example, the Kremlin announced a replacement for Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s longtime defense minister. However, rather than being fired outright due to his lack of success on the battlefield, Shoigu was moved to the post of Secretary of Russia’s Security Council.
Even in the face of major setbacks, Kremlin leaders’ response often seems to be to rearrange deckchairs.
CNN’s Anna Chernova and Matthew Chance contributed reporting.
