Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized Trump’s administration as being under siege from opponents eager to drag it down. | AP Photo/Michael Sohn Russia's foreign minister jokes there may have been more meetings between Trump and Putin

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cracked a joked Friday that President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, may have had interactions beyond the three occasions on which they are known to have spoken at this month’s G-20 meeting, dismissing a question about it without outright denying the possibility.

“Well, maybe they went to a toilet together. That was a fourth time,” Lavrov told NBC News in an interview that aired Friday morning. “When you are brought by your parents to a kindergarten, do you mix with the people who are waiting in the same room to start going to a class, a classroom?”


Reminded by the NBC reporter that the G-20 meeting is not a kindergarten classroom, Lavrov responded that he was only speaking in terms of logistics. “Well, there is also a room where they get together before an event starts. They cannot arrive all at the same time in a bus,” the Russian foreign minister said.

At last month’s G-20 meeting in Germany, Trump and Putin met for two hours, a sit-down in which Trump later said he pressed the Russian president multiple times about allegations of election interference. The two men also shook hands and spoke briefly before that meeting and also had a conversation that was disclosed just this week during a dinner with other G-20 leaders.

Trump and Putin’s first meeting since the U.S. president’s inauguration was highly anticipated and came amid ever-swirling controversy stemming from the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in last year’s U.S. election. Putin has denied any Russian involvement and while the U.S. intelligence community has been unequivocal in its assessment of the Kremlin’s culpability, Trump himself has waffled at times on the issue, most recently suggesting that Russia was likely just one of multiple nations and entities that sought to affect last November’s election.

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That the U.S. president has thus far been unwilling to take a tougher stance against Russia has raised eyebrows among politicians from both parties in Washington as well as among world leaders around the globe. Lavrov characterized Trump’s administration as being under siege from opponents eager to drag it down.

“The fight goes on. They want to make the life of this administration miserable. People try to speak about impeachment,” Lavrov said. “It’s absolutely a fight.”

“And Russia is on President Trump’s side?” the NBC reporter asked.

“No, we are on the side of justice,” Lavrov replied.