The Foreign Minister spoke about what foreign policy will be like under the new president

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday held a traditional press conference dedicated to the foreign policy results of the past year. However, the minister spoke much more about the future: he set tasks, formulated goals and warned. Such close attention of the Foreign Minister to the future may mean that for him personally this future has become more certain. According to Kommersant, Mr. Lavrov is one of the few members of the government who will retain his post in the new cabinet and under the new president.

Sergei Lavrov’s January press conferences are a long-standing tradition. At the beginning of each year, he communicates for several hours with Russian and foreign media, summing up foreign policy results. Yesterday's press conference, which took place less than two months before the presidential elections, was different from previous ones. In his opening remarks, Mr. Lavrov spoke about what Russian foreign policy would be like. Having outlined its “basic guidelines” - pragmatism, openness, predictability, ensuring national interests, Minister Lavrov boldly gave guarantees for the post-election period: “I think that partners abroad have every reason to count on the continuity of such a foreign policy in connection with the upcoming presidential elections in our country ".

The media were not satisfied with these assurances. Sergei Lavrov was asked to once again explain what Russian foreign policy will be like after the elections. And the minister again assured of the “consistency and predictability” of Moscow’s foreign policy line. “Foreign policy rests on the solid foundation of national interests cleared of ideology,” he explained. “I am convinced that we will continue to use everything we have achieved to create the most favorable conditions for solving the problems of modernization and for our citizens to feel the results.”

The ease with which the head of the Foreign Ministry yesterday discussed Russia's future foreign policy may be due to the fact that for him, it seems, certainty has arrived. As Kommersant's sources in the Kremlin assure, Sergei Lavrov will retain his post in the new government that will be formed after the March presidential elections, provided that Vladimir Putin wins them. “There will be resignations. Putin, if he returns, will need to be shown an update, because it is he who is blamed for the stagnation,” explained Kommersant’s interlocutor in the Kremlin. “With a high degree of probability, Lavrov will remain in his place.”

Confidence that the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will avoid personnel changes has also appeared among many employees of the ministry, who previously admitted the possibility of Sergei Lavrov’s resignation. Previously, rumors were actively and cautiously discussed within the department that the current minister, who has held the post since 2004, could leave either of his own free will or at the request of senior management. Now, employees of various departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs interviewed by Kommersant are confident that he will continue to lead the department. They explain this both by the minister’s professional qualities and by the fact that he has long established good personal relations with Mr. Putin, who, as one of Kommersant’s interlocutors put it, “is comfortable working with Lavrov.”

First Deputy Head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev is also confident that there are all the prerequisites for retaining Sergei Lavrov at the head of the Foreign Ministry. “This issue is within the competence of the country’s top leadership - the president and prime minister. I am in no way encroaching on this competence, but as a person who has been involved in foreign policy for a long time and consistently, I pay tribute to the professionalism of Sergei Lavrov. This person is absolutely in his place. Without presuming any decisions, I repeat: I do not see in his activities any professional prerequisites for making any decisions on his replacement,” Mr. Kosachev told Kommersant.

It is noteworthy that Konstantin Kosachev previously appeared on the unofficial list of possible successors to Sergei Lavrov. Among them, the current Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, was also mentioned at various times; Head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council Mikhail Margelov; Deputy Prime Minister, and in the recent past, permanent representative of the Russian Federation to NATO Dmitry Rogozin; Deputy Head of the Government Staff Yuri Ushakov.

Independent experts also see no objective reasons to change Mr. Lavrov. “Lavrov is now one of the most professional foreign ministers in the world,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs under his leadership clearly adjusted policy to the priorities formulated at the top. Therefore, if there are new priorities ", nothing forces the most likely future president to replace Lavrov in this post. I see no reason to suspect that he will not cope with the instructions that will be given."

However, the expert refrained from making an unambiguous forecast. “Our system of personnel appointments is opaque and practically unpredictable. If there are any leaks and assumptions before a decision is made, then practice shows that, as a rule, this means exactly the opposite,” says Mr. Lukyanov. “In any case, this is exactly how it happens,” when they talk about candidacies for certain positions."

Vladimir Solovyov, Elena Chernenko

Sergei Lavrov summed up the future