The foreign ministers of the G7 countries did not come to dinner with their G20 colleagues in Indonesia, and the traditional photo of the meeting did not take place due to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
European Pravda writes.
The preparations for the G20 ministerial meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali were dominated by the war in Ukraine and its impact on the global economy, and Western diplomats stressed that the meeting would not have the same cooperation as before due to the presence of the Russian minister.
Japanese agency Kyodo reported that the traditional group photo session that takes place at such meetings did not take place.
“The U.S. and others appear to have avoided a group photo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov due to the invasion of Ukraine,” the agency said.
At the beginning of the ministerial meeting, when Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov shook hands with Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, there were cries of "When will you stop the war" and "Why don't you stop the war," Reuters reported.
Highlighting the tension, Retno said she had previously been warned by G7 colleagues that they could not join Thursday's joint dinner where Lavrov was present.
A senior Indonesian foreign ministry official told the agency that no communique was expected from Friday's meeting.
"With the presence and participation of Russia, I certainly doubt that a consensus will be reached on Ukraine, for example," a senior U.S. Department of State official said ahead of the summit.
According to Bild, Lavrov left the meeting prematurely, ahead of a speech by the German foreign minister, who planned to announce that "we do not accept this violation of international law."
Commenting on the refusal of joint photo with him, Lavrov said that "he did not invite anyone to be photographed."
“And in general I didn’t invite anyone anywhere, Indonesia invited me, just as Indonesia invited President Putin to the summit, which will be in November. That’s all,” he said.
Regarding the non-participation of the G7 ministers in the dinner, Lavrov said that "this is their understanding of the protocol and simply their courtesy, the rules of ethics."
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, Putin was going to attend the G20 summit.
Earlier, Lavrov spoke about the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
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