Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday dismissed speculation that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may have fallen from grace with President Vladimir Putin, Reuters and TASS reported.
In response to a journalist's question during his daily briefing, Peskov said that the information "does not correspond to reality" and that Lavrov continues to fulfill his duties as foreign minister.
“There is nothing true in these reports,” he stressed.
Rumors that Sergei Lavrov has lost trust emerged after the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest failed, and have intensified in recent days amid Lavrov's disappearance from the public agenda. In particular, the Russian foreign minister did not attend the Security Council meeting where the possibility of resuming nuclear testing was discussed.
Russian media reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appears to have fallen out of favor with the Kremlin after a disastrous conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that led to the collapse of the summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest.