Lavrov to join G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta Oct. 30-31

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead his country’s delegation to the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta on Oct. 30-31, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow on Oct. 28.

The two-day meeting, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is the last ministerial stop before the G20 leaders’ summit in Miami on Dec. 14-15, and it will test whether the group can still agree on anything while Russia is at the table.

“As you know, the Russian foreign minister will lead our delegation at the Group of Twenty foreign ministers’ meeting. The G20 is currently under the US presidency, and a ministerial meeting in this format will take place in Atlanta, USA, on October 30-31,” Zakharova said, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

The U.S. State Department announced the trip in a media note on Oct. 26. It said Rubio will convene foreign ministers from the world’s leading economies to “advance practical cooperation on shared economic and security challenges.” It said the United States would address “geopolitical crises contributing to global economic shocks, including threats to freedom of navigation, energy and food security, and supply chains.”

The note did not mention Russia, did not list attending ministers and did not say whether Lavrov needs a sanctions waiver to travel.

Lavrov has been under U.S. Treasury sanctions since Feb. 25, 2022, the day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Euromaidan Press reported on Oct. 29. The Ukrainian outlet also reported that the Russian ministry said its delegation had run into American red tape over visas. It said journalists in his press pool still received visas without movement restrictions, citing TASS.

Euromaidan Press reported that the Russian ministry said Lavrov will denounce “the use of economic ‘weapons’ to fight opponents, including sanctions.” It reported that Republican Rep. Don Bacon told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that Russian leaders “should not be welcomed in any of these forums.”

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended a G20 finance meeting in Asheville, N.C., in late August, Euromaidan Press reported. It described that as his first in-person G20 appearance since 2022 and said European officials declined to join the group photo with him. Canada News Media has not independently confirmed that account.

The Atlanta meeting follows a G20 finance ministers’ session in Bangkok that ended with no joint statement. Washington has also been in direct contact with Moscow on Ukraine, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Oct. 21 for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Canada is a G20 member and takes part in the foreign ministers’ track. The State Department note did not say who will represent Canada, and Canadian officials had not announced a delegation in the sources reviewed for this story. The outcome matters for Canadians because the same group sets the tone on sanctions enforcement, energy and food security, and the supply chains that drive prices.

The State Department has not said whether a joint communique will be issued. The Atlanta meeting opens Friday, Oct. 30.

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Via TASS, Euromaidan Press and the U.S. State Department.