Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s absence sets off alarm bells in Moscow

The news out of Moscow is a bit of non-news: Russia’s top diplomat is still in his job.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov moved to tamp down intense media speculation about a potential reshuffle at the highest echelon of Russian foreign policy. The reason? Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s prominent absence from a Russian Security Council meeting on Wednesday, when President Vladimir Putin floated the possibility of full-scale nuclear testing.

“There is no truth to these reports whatsoever,” Peskov said on a call with reporters Friday. “Lavrov continues to serve as foreign minister, of course.”

To explain why that’s news, a bit of Kremlinology is in order. On…