Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may have fallen out of favour in the Kremlin after an unsuccessful conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which led to the cancellation of a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

Source: Russian media outlets The Moscow Times and Kommersant

Details: Lavrov, who has led Russia's Foreign Ministry for over two decades, was notably absent from a key meeting of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin on 5 November.

Kommersant, citing its sources, said Lavrov's absence was "agreed upon in advance", but he was the only permanent member of the Security Council who missed the session, during which Putin ordered officials to draft proposals for resuming nuclear tests.

In addition, Lavrov lost his position as head of Russia's delegation to the upcoming G20 summit in November. This year, the delegation will instead be led by Maxim Oreshkin, deputy head of the presidential administration. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the decision to appoint Oreshkin was made by Putin.

Background:

• On 20 October, Lavrov and Rubio held a phone conversation. The US State Department said Rubio had emphasised the importance of upcoming meetings between Russia and the United States in the context of resolving the Russo-Ukrainian war.
• On 21 October, Lavrov rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
• Soon after, reports emerged that the US postponed Lavrov's personal meeting with Rubio and paused preparations for a Putin-Trump summit in Budapest.
• On 23 October, Trump said he had changed his mind about meeting Putin in the near future. Putin, commenting on Trump's decision, described the meeting as "postponed".
• On 25 October, Trump stated that he would not meet with Putin until he believed an agreement to end the war in Ukraine could be reached.
• On 26 October, Lavrov claimed his conversation with Rubio on 20 October went "really well", adding sarcastically that it must have been "so good" that Washington decided to cancel their follow-up meeting.

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