Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Arrives in US for G20 Meeting

Atlanta: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the United States to attend a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta, state-owned TASS news agency reported on Friday.

The two-day gathering of major economies comes at a time of stalemates on various fronts -- from the US-Iran war to fighting in Ukraine -- all while oil prices stay high.

The foreign ministers' talks in Atlanta, Georgia, also takes place just days before crucial US midterm elections, and will set the stage for the December G20 leaders' summit in Miami at President Donald Trump's Doral resort.

Moscow said Thursday that Lavrov would use his speech there to argue against international sanctions. It comes ahead of fresh talks between officials from Moscow, Kyiv and Washington on trying to broker an end to the Ukraine war.

Russia’s G20 Presence May Rattle West

It is not clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept Trump's invitation to the December summit in Florida, although US 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 travelled 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 US 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."

Ukraine, which is not a G20 member but was invited to attend previous such meetings, was not invited this year as US 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, which is embroiled in several bitter disputes with the Trump administration. South Africa chaired the G20 last year and top US officials, including Trump and Rubio, shunned the meetings it hosted.