The surprising participation of Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in the meeting of the Group of Twenty Large Industrial Countries and Emerging Countries (G20) was met with sharp protests from the European participants. “The signal to receive the Russian Finance Minister here is one that I perceive as irritating,” said Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) on the sidelines of the meeting in Asheville, USA.
He would have liked Siluanov not to be received here like a normal guest. The regime in Moscow has been waging a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine that violates international law for years. "People die every day. We've just seen attacks intensify again." You can't go back to normal. When the Russian minister is in the room, Klingbeil uses the opportunity to address his political messages. "That's true. But I don't see the situation normalizing or easing at all." Russia bears sole responsibility for ending this war.
As Klingbeil reported, the new British Finance Minister, John Healey, and the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, also sent “clear words” to the Russian address at the meeting.
Klingbeil rules out a joint photo with Siluanow
The German politician had previously ruled out appearing in a family photo with the Russian finance minister. He said he had urged that Europeans take a unified line on this issue. Your pressure then apparently had an effect. “The Europeans’ joint approach ultimately led to this family photo being taken without the Russian Finance Minister or the Russian delegation,” said Klingbeil.
Apparently the host himself wasn't entirely comfortable with the back and forth in the end. According to reports, the delegations and social media teams were not allowed to take pictures of the family photo; that was reserved for the presidency.
In a covert military operation in 2014, Russia occupied Crimea, which belongs to Ukraine, and then incorporated it into its territory. An open attack on the neighboring country followed in February 2022. Fighting has been going on there for four and a half years now. Russia also regularly attacks non-military targets in cities and the countryside. The number of civilians killed and injured is increasing day by day.
Since 2022, no minister from Moscow has been in the room
Since the open attack, no finance minister from Moscow has personally attended a meeting in the Round of 20. Russia, which remains a member of the G20, was represented by top officials. However, American President Donald Trump undermined the de facto ban on the Russian aggressor in his second term in office. He met with Vladimir Putin a year ago in Alaska in the hope of getting Russia to agree to a ceasefire or even peace.
The fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president for alleged war crimes in Ukraine did not stop Trump from the meeting - the American does not recognize the court in The Hague anyway. His government says it wants to “systematically destroy” it, as Foreign Minister Marco Rubio once put it. At the time, he accused the International Criminal Court of “maliciously” abusing its powers. The ICC is, in Rubio’s words, “corrupt and deeply politicized.”
Siluanow last attended a meeting of finance ministers via video in April 2022. Many Western ministers left the room in protest, but the then Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) stayed in order to be able to react to the Russian's speech. Unlike the finance minister, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took part in G-20 meetings more often. At such meetings of ministers, the summit of heads of state and government is prepared.
Recently, the Russians were not represented by Putin. That could change in December. Trump recently expressed a generally positive opinion about the Russian president's possible participation in Miami. “If he came, it would probably be pretty helpful,” Trump said. “I believe that you should talk to everyone.”
