Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, 22 September 2025. Photo: EPA / Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday denied reports that Russia’s long-serving Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had “fallen out of favour” following a phone call he had with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month that led to the cancellation of planned talks between Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest.
“None of these reports have any basis in reality. Lavrov remains the foreign minister,” Peskov told reporters, after the Financial Times (FT) reported that US officials had been “struck by the intransigence” of the Russian Foreign Minister, whose stance on negotiations with Ukraine it described as “uncompromising”.
“Lavrov is clearly tired and seems to think he has better things to do than meet or engage with the United States, whatever President Putin may want,” a source told the FT.
Earlier this week, Nezygar, an anonymous Russian news and analysis Telegram channel, reported that Lavrov had had a “serious conversation” with Putin after the call, and that some officials had accused him of sabotaging the proposed talks.
Russian Telegram news channel Kompromat GROUP on Wednesday reported that Lavrov had fallen out of favour and was being temporarily barred from representing Moscow at major international events.
Andrey Kolesnikov, a special correspondent with state-affiliated business daily Kommersant, said that Lavrov was the only member of Russia’s Security Council not to attend a Wednesday meeting of the body at which Defence Minister Andrey Belousov proposed Russia begin preparations for the resumption of nuclear testing. However, Kolesnikov added that his sources had told him that it had been known in advance that Lavrov would not be attending.
Lavrov, who has served as Putin’s foreign minister since 2004 and is widely seen as a survivor who wields negligible power and even less influence, was last seen in public attending the III Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security on 28 October. He also gave two TV interviews on 1 November.
