Why Did Europe Refuse a G20 Photo With Lavrov?

The traditional group photograph of G20 foreign ministers was cancelled in Atlanta on Friday 30 October. Several European ministers had said they would not stand beside Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, and some threatened to walk out. By the end of the two day meeting, Lavrov had called the episode an “arrogant boycott”, while the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said he had delivered “a lot of lies” at the table.

Two US officials, speaking anonymously, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled the photo because the argument would become a distraction. Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom each stated publicly why they would not pose with Lavrov. Lavrov answered by blaming Europeans for blocking earlier peace proposals. Kallas said Russia must show “with their deeds” that it is ready to negotiate. A new round of Moscow, Kyiv and Washington talks is expected next month.

Rubio, the host, opened the meeting on Friday: “We are in a critical moment, I would call it a moment of choosing,” he said, and described “a series of interconnected economic and geopolitical crises”. He hoped for “a productive meeting”.

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told reporters in Atlanta that cancelling it was “the right decision”. He added: “I am not the only one who does not want to be photographed with Lavrov.” Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: “There will definitely not be a family photo in which our European partners are together with Mr. Lavrov.” He also said “there is no normality with Russia”, but that “we must exchange the controversies at the table here”. The UK Foreign Office said it “has a longstanding policy not to have direct, bilateral engagement with Russian ministers”.

Lavrov told reporters after meeting Rubio: “Yes, we had a decent talk, though a short one, because for understandable reasons he has a lot of duties as the host.” He called the European stance an “arrogant boycott” and blamed the “outrageous activity of Europeans” for undermining earlier peace proposals on Ukraine that Russia had backed. He praised the Trump administration as the only Western government so far to recognise the “root causes” of the Ukraine conflict.

Kallas, who sat at the table with him, put it differently: “Of course, he put forward a lot of lies, a lot of false narratives that we were also able to then rebuke,” she said. On whether Moscow wants peace: “They should show with their deeds that they are ready to negotiate, but they are clearly, clearly not.” She said July, August and September were the deadliest months for civilians in Ukraine, and that European officials had agreed not to normalise their presence around international platforms after the invasion began. “We haven’t changed our policies,” she said. She called for continued pressure on Moscow, in particular for a Black Sea ceasefire.

The next negotiating round. Lavrov said talks would go ahead, and Kallas said Russia was clearly not ready. Whether Moscow, Kyiv and Washington meet next month, and who attends, tests Lavrov’s account against Kallas’s. The leaders’ meeting in Miami in December. The G20 leaders’ summit is to be hosted by President Trump. A head of state in the frame would raise the photograph question again. Civilian casualty figures for October. Kallas pointed to July, August and September as the deadliest months for civilians in the Ukraine war. October’s figures are the next test of her claim. Further Patriot deliveries. The approval is a sale. Dates for the first deliveries come next.