The Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta, United States, got off to a rocky start on Friday after senior diplomats from European countries refused to take a “family photo” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is hosting the meeting, decided to delete the photo before the meeting began because Washington did not want it to become a spectacle or a distraction.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters before the first session on Friday that there would be no “family photo with the European partners and Mr. Lavrov together because… there is no normality with Russia.”
The two-day meeting of the G20 group, which includes the EU, Russia, Germany, India, China, Brazil and other major countries, is meant to be a precursor to a summit of G20 leaders planned for later in December.
The G20 leaders’ meeting in December is expected to be hosted by US President Donald Trump at his golf club in Miami.
Rubio highlights unity despite fractures
Rubio nevertheless opened the negotiations by emphasizing unity on major issues, telling his counterparts that they were in a “critical moment.”
“We face a series of interconnected economic and geopolitical crises,” he said.
He highlighted disruptions in global energy and trade and said many of them posed “serious threats to the essential foundations of the global economic order.”
But several countries, including the United States and Russia, are involved in separate wars. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have led to rising food prices for people around the world.
Although the message is about unity and finding solutions to issues such as freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz at the G20 meeting, the reality is that it will likely be much more difficult to find common ground.
Given the renewed momentum to restart negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, it was also interesting that Lavrov spoke about Russia’s position on future negotiations with kyiv.
Russia ready to meet Zelensky in Moscow, Lavrov tells DW
The United States invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 meeting in Miami, but it is unclear whether Russia accepted the invitation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said he would be willing to travel to Miami for talks with Putin if he were there as well.
The Kremlin has so far refused to meet directly with Zelensky. Russian Sergei Lavrov told DW on the sidelines of the meeting that Putin was ready to meet the Ukrainian leader if he visited Moscow.
“President Putin said that if he (Zelensky) is ready to meet, let him come to Moscow,” Lavrov said. “We will guarantee his safety.”
Lavrov refused to say whether Putin would attend the G20 summit next December.
Putin has not attended a G20 leaders’ meeting since 2019 and did not attend a virtual session until 2023.
Russia has also continued its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, intensifying drone strikes on water and energy infrastructure.
Top European diplomat denounces Lavrov’s ‘lies’
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said ministers at the G20 meeting were able to denounce Lavrov for his “lies” at the table.
“We were talking about major geopolitical crises, including Ukraine, and we were able to address this topic head-on with Sergei Lavrov,” Kallas said on the sidelines of the meeting.
“Of course, he put forward a lot of lies, a lot of false stories that we were then able to refute as well,” she said.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also called out Lavrov, saying: “If we take our values and interests seriously, we must also work harder to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Lavrov says there will be no easing of ties with US and ‘no illusions’ over diesel deal
Lavrov, who is under international sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, was invited to the United States at a time when the two countries appear to have developed warmer relations.
Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia earlier this month and also lifted new sanctions on Russian energy. The United States announced this decision a few weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
Lavrov said Friday that despite these efforts, “in practice, no real progress in relations with the United States has been noted so far.”
South Africa, founding member of the G20, excluded from the American meeting
The Trump administration is embroiled in disputes with South Africa, having imposed visa restrictions on South Africans it says were complicit in discriminating against whites.
Ukraine, which is not a G20 member but had been invited to attend previous such meetings, was not invited this year because U.S. officials said they made a conscious choice to include only formal members of the group.
But American officials did not invite South Africa, a founding member of the G20 and the only African country in the group.
“We have always maintained that our non-participation was not voluntary,” said Phindile Kunene, spokesperson for South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola.
With so many issues on the table, it seemed less likely that there would be a common consensus at the end of the talks.
Instead of a final statement, the AFP news agency reported, the meeting is expected to end on Saturday with a US-written summary from the president.
Additional reporting by Benjamin Alvarez Gruber.
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