Foreign affairs

Russia will care little about the spat between Sergei Lavrov and Boris Johnson - it sees the UK as irrelevant

It was billed in the local press as the visit of one of Russia’s “harshest critics”; a man who, on the eve of talks, has described Russia as modern-day Sparta – “closed, nasty, military and anti-democratic.” There was past history too. An earlier meeting between veteran diplomat Sergei Lavrov and recent-convert-to-the-trade Boris Johnson had already been cancelled.

In the event, it was the Boris and Sergei show – a session filled with jokes, faux barbs, and general bonhomie. “I’m called Boris,” said the British Foreign Secretary. I know, answered his Russian equivalent – “and I trust you so much I will even call you BorIS,” placing the stress on the second syllable, as is correct in Russian. 

With huge policy gaps between the countries, it was not long before the two professed statements of disagreement. There were differences on Ukraine, Syria and North Korea, declared Mr Johnson. There was no question that this was a “difficult patch.” Mr Lavrov agreed – and that was even without the fallout from Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy assassinated in London in 2006.