Deep rifts among G20 diplomats, including from China and Russia, prompt US to ditch group photo plan

ATLANTA (AP) — The top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies, including envoys from Russia and China, are meeting in Atlanta as they face deep rifts over multiple wars and other global crises that threaten international security and trade.

Those rifts prompted the United States to scrap plans for a group photo with participants at the G20 foreign ministers meeting after several European diplomats objected to being photographed with Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, and threatened to walk out of it, U.S. officials said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is chairing the gathering on Friday and Saturday that will set the stage for a G20 leaders’ summit hosted by President Donald Trump at his Miami golf club in December.

There appears to be little chance that the group will come to a consensus on many of the most contentious issues. Among those are the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. tariffs and Chinese machinations in the South China Sea. All have contributed to spikes in the global cost of fuel as well as uncertainty about trade.

U.S. officials say their top priority for the meeting is resolving differences over issues related to freedom of navigation, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and the South China Sea. The topic will include discussions on Iran, Russia-Ukraine and China and its smaller neighbors.

But hanging over the meeting is the prospect of new U.S. military intervention in Iran, which has put the region, including G20 member Saudi Arabia, on edge.

The Associated Press has reported that U.S. officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military strikes against Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections and the possibility that Iran will retaliate against them.

Some G20 countries have expressed concern that the U.S. invited Russia, which will be represented in Atlanta by Lavrov, during its heightened attacks on Ukraine. China will be represented by a deputy foreign minister, but most other countries have sent their top diplomat, U.S. officials say.

The United States on Thursday scrapped plans for the family photo with G20 participants, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, which has endangered prospects for the world’s largest economies to reach consensus on a number of global crises, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The officials said Rubio decided to cancel the photograph after determining that controversy over it would be a distraction.

Russia’s presence at G20 gathering roils Western allies

It is unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept Trump’s invitation to the December summit in Florida, although U.S. allies in Europe are uneasy with Russia’s presence, especially after Trump pushed ties with Ukraine to new lows by waiving fresh sanctions on Moscow and temporarily limiting logistical and intelligence assistance.

Russia’s foreign ministry complained of issues securing visas for its delegation that were only resolved at the last minute. Those complications had created the impression that “not everyone in Washington is happy” about Lavrov attending, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. But he would use the meeting to advocate for the “swift reform of global economic institutions” and to promote Russia’s vision of a “multipolar world,” she said.

Lavrov has traveled very infrequently to NATO member states since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and the resulting severe sanctions were imposed on Moscow. His presence in Atlanta is likely to cause both domestic political problems for Trump just days before the midterm elections and roil at least the G20’s Western participants, according to Ian Kelly, a U.S. ambassador to Georgia during Trump’s first term.

“It seems politically boneheaded to invite him,” said Kelly, who now teaches international relations and diplomacy at Northwestern University outside Chicago.

Kelly noted that many Republican lawmakers, who are already fearful of losing their congressional majorities, are “cranky” with Trump’s conciliatory approach to Putin. Democrats, he added, could use the invitation to bash the GOP ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

In terms of the G20 itself, Lavrov’s attendance will almost certainly hurt efforts to produce a unified approach on the Russia-Ukraine war, Kelly said. “It will definitely take away from the message that at least the Western members want to send,” he said.

Ukraine, which is not a G20 member but was invited to attend previous such meetings, was not invited this year as U.S. officials said they made a conscious choice to only include formal members of the group.

Also missing from the Atlanta invitee list is South Africa, a G20 founding member and the only African country in the group. South Africa is embroiled in several bitter disputes with the Trump administration, and when it chaired the G20 last year, top U.S. officials, including Trump and Rubio, shunned the meetings it hosted.

South Africa said Friday its absence from the meetings was not voluntary. “We have consistently maintained that our nonparticipation is not voluntary,” Phindile Kunene, spokesperson for South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola, told The Associated Press.

Kunene welcomed support from other G20 members that had expressed reservations about the exclusion and said South Africa was ready to participate “on an equal footing with other members” when Britain takes over the presidency next year.

Trump administration is urging countries to work together on global crises

The State Department said Rubio sees the event as a way “to advance practical cooperation on shared economic and security challenges” and his priority is for the group to seek solutions to “geopolitical crises contributing to global economic shocks.” It pointed to threats to freedom of navigation, energy and food security and preserving supply chains of critical minerals.

However, there is skepticism that the G20 members will be able to overcome their substantial differences.

It will be less of a meeting and more of a test, said Elaine Dezenski, the head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that is hawkish on Iran and other issues.

“The Atlanta meeting takes place within an environment of widening disagreement over the global economic order, and the right test is whether the U.S. can build cooperation with partners when all member consensus appears to be out of reach,” she said during a conference call with reporters.

She said the Trump administration had shown a willingness to work — and not insignificant success — outside the G20 framework to build coalitions that advance its foreign policy goals.

“The meeting offers a chance to assess whether the U.S. can turn shared economic security concerns into more meaningful cooperation with partners even without the consensus,” she said.

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AP writer Michelle Gumede in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed.

Matthew Lee, The Associated Press