JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended a meeting Thursday of the Group of 20 nations in South Africa, where top European diplomats were expected to reinforce their support for Ukraine and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a high-profile absentee.
Lavrov traveled to Johannesburg for the G20 foreign ministers meeting after landmark bilateral talks this week between the United States and Russia over ending the war in Ukraine. Those talks sidelined Washington's European allies and Ukraine, who weren't involved.
U.S. President Donald Trump further upended the West's position by criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and falsely blaming Ukraine for the full-scale invasion by Russia, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. The war's third anniversary is next week.
Rubio decided not to attend the two-day G20 meeting Thursday and Friday amid tensions with South Africa over some of its policies that the Trump administration has characterized as anti-American. The U.S. was represented by Dana Brown, its acting ambassador to South Africa.
The G20 is made up of 19 of the world's major economies, the European Union and the African Union. Those taking part included EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Wang and Lavrov met on the sidelines of the meeting. In comments released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov said Russia's relations with China "have become and remain an increasingly significant factor in stabilizing the international situation and preventing it from sliding into total confrontation.”
While South Africa, which holds the G20 presidency this year, hopes that the group's first major meeting of the year will make progress on issues affecting the developing world like debt refinancing and climate change, initial discussions behind closed doors in Johannesburg were on the global geopolitical situation, according to officials.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote in an op-ed published by several media outlets on Thursday that the starkest divisions in the world were currently between “those who support the law and those who support power by force.”
“A country under attack is a country under attack, and an aggressor country is an aggressor country,” Barrot wrote, repeating France's condemnation of Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany and the EU have all pledged continued support for Ukraine, while seeking to be a part of any ceasefire negotiations. The G20 meeting in South Africa offers European nations a chance to speak with a united voice on the Russia-Ukraine war and any peace process amid their own divisions.
The G20 is supposed to bring developed and developing countries together to create a foundation for global economic stability and foster cooperation. But the grouping often struggles to reach any meaningful consensus on issues because of the disparate interests of the U.S., Europe, Russia and China.
In a speech opening the meeting, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that it was an opportunity for the G20 “to engage in serious dialogue” against a global backdrop of geopolitical tensions and war, climate change, pandemics and energy and food insecurity.
"There is a lack of consensus among major powers, including in the G20, on how to respond to these issues,” Ramaphosa said.
Rubio's decision to boycott this week's meeting and his pledge to also skip the main G20 summit in South Africa in November threatens to further undermine the G20's effectiveness.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said that he won't attend a G20 finance ministers meeting in South Africa next week because of other commitments in Washington, which many saw as a further indication of Trump's indifference to global institutions and international collaboration in favor of his “America First” policy.
The Trump administration punished South Africa with an executive order this month that cut all U.S. aid and assistance to the country over what it called its anti-American stance. The order criticized South Africa's decision to accuse U.S. ally Israel of genocide in Gaza in an ongoing case at the United Nations' top court as veiled support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The Trump administration also cited what it called South Africa's relationship with Iran and the Communist Party in China.
Rubio has rejected South Africa's theme for its G20 presidency, which is “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”
“In other words: DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and climate change,” Rubio wrote on X. “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism."
South Africa downplayed suggestions that Rubio's absence was undermining its G20 presidency. Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on the eve of the meeting in Johannesburg that there was “not a complete boycott of South Africa’s G20" by the U.S.
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Gerald Imray contributed to this report from Cape Town.
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