“Moscow Times”: Lavrov fell out of favor in the Kremlin after a failed conversation with Rubio

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavov fell out of favor in the Kremlin after a failed telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mark Rubio, which led to the postponement of Vladimir Putin's meeting with Donald Trump in Budapest, the Moscow Times wrote on Thursday.

The website, published outside the reach of Kremlin censorship, emphasizes that 76-year-old Lavrov, who has headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for over 20 years, did not appear at the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on November 5, even though he is its permanent member.

The Kommersant daily, citing its source, reported that Lavrov “was absent as previously agreed.” He is the only member of the Council who was not present at this meeting.

“At the same time, Lavrov lost the status of head of the Russian delegation to the G20 summit,” noted the Moscow Times. This year, the Russian delegation will be headed by the deputy head of the presidential administration (office), 45-year-old Maksim Oreshkin. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the decision to appoint him was made by Putin.

On October 21, Lavrov held a telephone conversation with Rubio, during which he was to discuss the conditions of the next Putin Trump summit in Budapest. “However, Rubio recommended to Trump to cancel the summit, and after its disruption, US sanctions were introduced against (Russian companies) Rosneft and Lukoil – the first since Trump's return to the White House,” noted the Moscow Times.

Reuters sources familiar with the situation said that the reason for the failure of the Lavrov-Rubio conversation was the “implacable position of the Kremlin”, which “wanted too much” and refused to cease fire in Ukraine.

After the failed conversation, Lavrov again mentioned the “Nazi regime” in Kiev and demanded that the “root causes of the conflict” be removed. As he claimed, an immediate ceasefire would result in a large part of Ukraine “remaining under the leadership of the Nazi regime,” and the West would again “stuff” Ukrainian forces with weapons for “terrorist activities in the form of attacks on civilian infrastructure” in Russia. (PAP)

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