Reports that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has fallen out of favor are untrue, the Kremlin said, responding to reports in Western and Ukrainian media.
The questions of the Western press about a punitive stance by President Putin arose from the absence of the Russian Foreign Minister, a permanent member of the country's Security Council, from his last meeting on Wednesday, during which the question of the country's possible response to an American nuclear test was also considered.
As the daily newspaper Kommersant wrote, the absence of the Russian Foreign Minister from the meeting was planned.
Lavrov, 75, is the world's longest-serving Foreign Minister.
Source: Radio RIK
TUE/MAR
