Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's deputy gets sacked after 40 years of service

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Vladimir Titov, who served as first deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov. 

The reason for the dismissal of Deputy Foreign Minister was not specified. Titov has been in charge of relations with European countries since 2013.

Titov has been serving in the Russian Foreign Ministry system for about 44 years since the 1980s. He has worked both in Russia and abroad. From 1993 to 1997, he was an embassy counselor-envoy in Sweden. After this position, he was assigned to head the second European department of the Foreign Ministry, where he worked for two years.

In 1999, he became Russia's ambassador to Bulgaria, but after 2004 he moved to the Foreign Ministry's personnel department. After that, Titov worked for a year as the head of the Foreign Ministry's personnel department.

In May 2023, Putin extended the civil service for Titov, as well as for Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, and Director General of the Foreign Ministry Sergei Vyazalov for a year.

It is believed that Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya may replace Vladimir Titov on the post of Sergei Lavrov's deputy, the Kommersant newspaper said citing sources close to the Russian ministry.

"Sources (…) predict that he will be appointed as Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, whereas Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya may take Titov's office instead," the article says.

Sixty-two-year-old Vasily Nebenzya has been working in the Foreign Ministry system since 1983, He took up his current post in 2017. He also represents Russia at the UN Security Council in New York.