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The protocol service of the German delegation inquired about a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin hanging in the room prepared for a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova discussed the matter on Sputnik radio.
According to Zakharova, German protocol officials saw the portrait when they arrived to prepare the room and asked whether it would remain in place during Wadephul’s talks with Lavrov.
They were told that this was a tradition of the host side. Zakharova said that the room contains a flag and a portrait of the president, adding that guests should respect the traditions of the other side.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed that the portrait would remain in place regardless of whether Wadephul attended the meeting.
Zakharova also recalled that Germany’s foreign minister had refused to meet Lavrov a year earlier but later unexpectedly requested talks at the United Nations.
Lavrov and Wadephul met on Sept. 26, a Saturday, at the United Nations headquarters. Lavrov last met a German foreign minister in Moscow in January 2022, when Annalena Baerbock held the post.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had earlier commented on the meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers, saying that Moscow was allegedly not interested in negotiations on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Merz’s statement was a response to remarks made by Lavrov at a news conference following the meetings of the UN General Assembly. Lavrov said of the meeting:
“He took out his notes and read a text that fully repeated the position voiced publicly every day by Germany’s leaders. I learned nothing new from it.”
