European ministers refuse photo with Lavrov – G-20 group photo deleted

The group photo at the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta was canceled because European participants did not want to pose next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Several European foreign ministers had threatened to leave the photo session. Host and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided on Thursday evening not to take the photo because the dispute over it would distract, said two US government officials who wished to remain anonymous.

The meeting on Friday and Saturday in the US state of Georgia will bring together almost all of the chief diplomats from the world's largest economies, including Russia and China. Several wars and other global crises that endanger international security and trade are causing disputes among the G-20 members.

Topics include the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the US and Israel's war against Iran, US tariffs and China's behavior in the South China Sea. In Atlanta, the foreign ministers are preparing for the G-20 summit of heads of state and government. It is scheduled to take place in December on US President Donald Trump's golf course in Miami.

Some G-20 countries have expressed concerns that the US invited Russia to the foreign ministers' meeting despite the war of aggression against Ukraine. It is still unclear whether Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will accept Trump's invitation to the summit in Florida in December.

Lavrov's presence in Atlanta could harm Trump domestically ahead of Tuesday's congressional elections and will at least annoy Western participants at the G-20 meeting, former US ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly told reporters. “It seems politically stupid to invite him,” said Kelly, who now teaches international relations and diplomacy at Northwestern University.

Unlike previous G-20 meetings, Ukraine, which is not a member of the group of states, was not invited this year. South Africa, the only African G-20 member, also did not receive an invitation from the USA. The country is currently engaged in a bitter dispute with the Trump administration. When South Africa hosted the G-20 last year, Trump and Rubio stayed away from the meetings.

The South African Foreign Ministry told the AP news agency on Friday that it was not voluntarily absent from the meeting in Atlanta.