Fueling rumors that snowballed on social media, Lavrov was not current within the Kremlin on Wednesday, when Putin mentioned he was contemplating a resumption of nuclear weapons testing.
According to Kommersant, a Kremlin-linked Russian enterprise outlet, Lavrov was absent from the assembly “with prior settlement.”
According to the Russian international ministry web site, Lavrov’s final public look was on Oct. 28, when he took half within the Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security within the Belarusian capital.
The 76-year-old Lavrov can even not lead the Russian delegation at this 12 months’s G20 summit, although he usually fills that position. The Kremlin mentioned this week that the deputy head of Putin’s administration, Maxim Oreshkin, will signify Russia on the summit in Johannesburg later this month.
The Financial Times reported late final month that the U.S. determined to cancel the Budapest assembly concerning the conflict in Ukraine after a name between Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, due to the Russian’s uncompromising posture.
Lavrov has been an in depth ally of Putin and has led Russia’s diplomatic arm for 21 years.
