Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov’s withdrawal from meetings in the Kremlin and his combative stance in negotiations with the USA have fueled rumors of a break with Putin. A former Kremlin official assures that the two cannot stand each other.
The inexplicable absence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from an important Kremlin meeting last week generated widespread speculation about possible tensions in the close circle of Vladimir Putin.
Lavrov, 75, was the only permanent member of the Russian Security Council absent from a high-level session in which Putin ordered authorities to study the possibility of resume nuclear weapons testing. His omission, described by the newspaper Kommersant as “agreed in advance”, and his exclusion from the Russian delegation to the next G20 summit in South Africa increased the mystery surrounding his relationship with the President.
The Kremlin vehemently denied any disagreement. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called reports of unease with Lavrov “absolutely false“, insisting that the veteran minister “continues to work actively.” However, Moscow insiders suggest that the longtime diplomat may have irritated Putin because of an unsuccessful conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which led to the abrupt cancellation of a planned summit between Putin and Trump in Budapest last month.
According to media reports, the US withdrew after the tom intransigente de Lavrov during the negotiations convinced Washington that talks on Ukraine would be useless. A former senior Kremlin official said that while it is unlikely that Lavrov will be fired, he “mishandled” the conversation and “made a big diplomatic mess”.
Lavrov’s influence on Russian foreign policy has been waning in recent years. Once considered a pragmatic statesman in the West, he has increasingly mirrored Putin’s hard-line stance, adopting a combative style that, according to some sources, now irritates the president. His authority declined further after Trump’s re-election in 2024, when Kirill Dmitrieva close friend of Putin’s daughter and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, took on a responsibility that belonged to Lavrov and began making direct contact with Trump’s advisors
Tensions between the two men exploded publicly during peace talks in Riyadh last February, when Lavrov reportedly tried to prevent Dmitriev from participating, but Putin vetoed him. “The two just can’t stand each other“, says the former Kremlin official.
Although Lavrov appeared on state media outlets over the weekend to ensure that “the work continues,” analysts say his role has become largely symbolic. Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, noted that Lavrov has long served as “a spokesman for Putin’s views“, and not as an independent actor.
“In the Russian system, the boss can never be wrong“, Bondarev added, suggesting that if a scapegoat is needed for recent diplomatic failures, Lavrov could be the one.
