Andrei Kozyrev, left, and Sergey Lavrov, right.
Andrei Kozyrev, left, and Sergey Lavrov, right.Antoine Gyori/Sygma via Getty Images; Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev spoke out against current Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday. 
  • He spoke out after the US and European Union announced they would sanction Lavrov.
  • "I would watch my back if he was behind me," Kozyrev said in a tweet.

Russia's former top diplomat spoke out against current Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday after the US and European Union announced they would sanction Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Lavrov, rightfully sanctioned by the US and EU today, was my deputy in the 90s. Used to have my back," former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev wrote on Twitter. "Today, I would watch my back if he was behind me."

Kozyrev was Russia's first minister of foreign affairs under Boris Yeltsin during the early-to-mid 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed. 

The White House on Friday announced it would sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov, after the EU earlier approved freezing assets belonging to the two.  

Read the original article on Business Insider