US cancels G20 ‘family photo’ after Australia, UK and others refuse to appear with Russia
Summary
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled the G20 foreign ministers’ traditional group photo in Atlanta after several countries, including Australia and the UK, said they would not appear alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Ministers condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and faced disagreements over Ukraine, Poland’s bid to join the G20 and South Africa’s absence from the meetings.Key Facts
- Several European officials, the UK and Australia said they would boycott or leave a photo with Lavrov.
- Rubio opened the meeting by saying countries faced interconnected economic and geopolitical crises.
- Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the opening session.
- Australia said it supported the decision to cancel the photo and would not normalize Russia’s invasion.
- Russia opposed Poland’s membership in the G20, while Poland attended the meeting as a guest and sought membership with U.S. support.
- Ukraine was not invited to this year’s meeting; U.S. officials said they chose to invite only formal G20 members.
- South Africa, a G20 founding member and its only African member, was not invited to the meeting.
- Participants said disagreements could prevent the foreign ministers from issuing a joint statement when the meeting ends.
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