OMM Newsroom
European diplomats refused to stand for an official photograph with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the United States, prompting the hosts to cancel the planned picture, according to the BBC.
Two officials confirmed the cancellation of the so-called family photo, scheduled for Friday morning. The picture would normally include representatives from all the countries attending.
The meeting of senior diplomats from the world’s largest economies is being hosted in Atlanta by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is attending, and a diplomatic source confirmed that the UK was among the countries that declined to join the photograph.
“The UK has a longstanding policy not to have direct, bilateral engagement with Russian ministers since the invasion of Ukraine and we are not about to change that,” a British official said.
Ukraine not invited to the meeting
Ukraine was not invited. It is not a G20 member, but has been invited to meetings in recent years.
Relations between Ukraine and the United States have been particularly tense this month, amid a diplomatic standoff between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump over Kyiv’s strikes on oil infrastructure inside Russia.
US-Russia ties and the war in Ukraine
By contrast, relations between the United States and Russia appear to have partially thawed in recent weeks. Trump waived some sanctions and agreed to a deal to import Russian diesel for the US market.
The move comes as Trump seeks to lower fuel prices ahead of mid-term elections at the start of November, following months of grappling with the political consequences of the Iran war.
Ukraine and its European allies have strongly criticised Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky called it “a gift” to Putin and “an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged”.
Trump said suspending several Russian sanctions was an effort to keep Moscow at the negotiating table in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin has said Russia, which introduced a ban on diesel exports earlier this year, is willing to supply oil and petroleum products to the United States and global markets.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and currently controls approximately a fifth of Ukrainian territory. In recent weeks, Moscow has intensified deadly missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
