Lavrov, CoE Head Joke About Secret Information Handling (VIDEO)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland kicked off a bilateral meeting with a joke about media hype triggered by US President Donald Trump allegedly divulging classified information.

During a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Council of Europe’s Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, the two officials bantered about the latest allegations levelled against President Donald Trump by US media.

"These pictures (protocol photoshoot) won't cause any problems for you?" Jagland jokingly inquired.

"Depends on what kind of secrets you pass on to me," Lavrov chuckled.

.@TJagland: These pictures (protocol photoshoot) won’t cause any problems for you?#Lavrov:Depends on what kind of secrets you pass on to me pic.twitter.com/aCXMMzSur4

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) 18 мая 2017 г.

Their exchange was a reference to recent media reports about US President Donald Trump allegedly disclosing classified information during a meeting with Lavrov on May 10, thus apparently compromising a vital intelligence source which provided the intel in question.

Earlier Lavrov said that the US media nowadays reminds him of an old Soviet joke about "the Pravda (Truth) newspaper that contains no news and the Izvestia (News) newspaper that contains no truth."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also remarked that this media hype hints at the "political schizophrenia" developing in the United States.