Moscow responds to NATO chief’s ‘Jesus’ comment about Lavrov
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte mentioning Jesus Christ when talking about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov means that Moscow’s top diplomat is doing good job, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
She was referring to a brief interview Rutte gave Fox News on Wednesday. The NATO chief sought to diminish the role of the Russian foreign minister by claiming that he “has been foreign minister of Russia … since the birth of Jesus Christ. And since then, nothing… useful came out of his month.”
“Not for nothing has Sergey Lavrov been working for so many years since he has made the NATO Secretary General remember Jesus Christ,” Zakharova quipped in response in a Telegram statement.
A veteran diplomat, Lavrov has headed the Russian Foreign Ministry for more than 20 years, since 2004.
Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, has been in the NATO top job for less than a year, but already found himself at the center of controversy at the bloc’s summit last week. Some European officials were unhappy with the level of flattery he used to win over US President Donald Trump during the meeting, according to Politico.
“People are so embarrassed,” one official told the outlet, adding that “the sucking up was pretty over the top.” Rutte called Trump “daddy” during the summit and sent him a gushing message praising the US attack on Iran's nuclear sites ahead of the summit.
The US president was quick to post the NATO chief’s message online. The White House also shared a clip on social media showing Trump’s participation in the summit and accompanied by Usher’s song ‘Daddy’s home’.
