Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin hits out at long-running reports of rift between Putin and Lavrov
The Kremlin on Monday hit out at long-running reports of a rift between Vladimir Putin and his veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
It said that Lavrov, 75, was actively working as Russia’s foreign minister and suggested that people ignore Western media speculation that he may have fallen out of favour with the president.
Lavrov was absent from a key meeting last week that he would typically attend, and Putin chose someone else to attend a G20 summit in South Africa later this month, a role that Lavrov has filled in the past.
Speculation swirled among Russia-critical outlets that Lavrov had been sidelined over the collapse of a proposed summit between Putin and US president Donald Trump in Budapest.
Lavrov said on Sunday that he was keen to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the mending of bilateral ties, while repeating that peace could not be achieved without “taking Russian interests into account”.
