G20 foreign ministers skip traditional group photo as Europeans refuse to pose beside Russia's Lavrov
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta opened without its customary family photograph after European delegates objected to standing alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies opened their two-day meeting in Atlanta on Friday without the traditional group photograph, after European representatives objected to being pictured alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The United States State Department removed the so-called family shot from the official agenda for the meeting, and ministers — including Lavrov — began their first session without posing for photographers. The decision turned a usually routine ceremonial moment into a visible symbol of the divisions running through the gathering.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul left no doubt about his government's position before the session began. He told reporters that there would be no family photograph showing European partners together with Lavrov, saying there was 'no normalcy' with Russia while its war in Ukraine continues.
European officials had earlier floated the idea of two separate photographs — one including Lavrov and one without him — but the compromise was not taken up. According to two United States officials, European delegates warned they might boycott or walk out of a joint photograph, prompting Secretary of State Marco Rubio to cancel the picture altogether.
Two Western officials told CNN that more than a third of the attending delegations had threatened to walk out of a photograph with the Russian minister. A United States official said Rubio decided the drama around the photograph would become a distraction and a spectacle that would overshadow the talks themselves.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who was seated beside Rubio as the only guest invited to the deliberations, called the cancellation 'the right decision', saying he was not the only minister unwilling to be photographed with Lavrov. Britain's Foreign Office restated its longstanding policy of avoiding direct bilateral engagement with Russian ministers over the war in Ukraine.
The dispute over the photograph reflects a wider rift between Washington and its European partners over the Trump administration's recent approach to Russia. Ukraine has objected to recent American decisions including a deal to buy diesel from Russia and waivers on some sanctions, measures the administration has presented as a way of taming fuel prices ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.
Rubio opened the talks, which otherwise proceeded as planned, with an appeal for unity on issues threatening international security and global trade. The meeting in Atlanta is intended to lay the groundwork for the G20 leaders' summit, which President Donald Trump is scheduled to host at his golf club in Miami in December.
The war with Iran and its effects on energy supplies, maritime security and trade are also looming large over the Atlanta gathering, with ministers discussing how geopolitical tensions are affecting economic security. The United States did not invite South Africa to the meeting, amid tensions over that country's domestic and foreign policies.
Beyond the photograph, the episode underlines how far the G20's diplomatic rituals have been strained by the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. Lavrov, who is under Western sanctions over the invasion, is the latest senior Kremlin official to visit the United States, following Finance Minister Anton Siluanov's attendance at a G20 meeting in North Carolina in September.
Ministers will continue their discussions on Saturday, with the photograph dispute likely to be remembered as the meeting's defining image — precisely because no image was taken. Whether the leaders' summit in December can restore the group's usual choreography will depend on whether the divisions exposed in Atlanta narrow in the weeks ahead.
