Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North Carolina, sparking frustration and dismay among European ministers and officials.<\/p>\n
Siluanov\u2019s appearance at the talks in Asheville on Monday marks the first time the minister, who was appointed in 2011, has attended a G20 meeting in person since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n
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He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Russia\u2019s Ministry of Finance saying the two men discussed financial cooperation within the G20 framework.<\/p>\n
A US official said the meeting focused on US President Donald Trump\u2019s peace plan for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Asked about the invitation to Siluanov, Trump told reporters: \u201cWe like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons I\u2019m so successful, I get along with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
European officials, however, criticised the move.<\/p>\n
Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented, although he recognised the right of G20 hosts to invite guests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,\u201d \u2060he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for me, it would be very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/reuters_6a961f03-1788223235.jpg\")
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon and CEO of Goldman Sachs David M Solomon attend a plenary session as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville [Sam Wolfe\/Reuters]\u2018Troubling\u2019 signal<\/p>\n
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the US\u2019s decision to welcome\u00a0Siluanov sent a \u201csignal I find troubling\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he told Siluanov during a plenary session that Moscow had to end the war and \u201cthat we clearly support Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also said Europe was preparing a further package of sanctions against Russia and hoped for close cooperation with Washington on the measures.<\/p>\n
European ministers and central bankers also opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 \u201cfamily photo\u201d, European officials said. The photograph was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.<\/p>\n
Klingbeil said European officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, had discussed Russia\u2019s involvement on Sunday and agreed that maintaining an avenue for dialogue could allow them to deliver a frank message to Moscow.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the mere fact that the Russian finance minister is back \u2013 after, I believe, four G20 meetings without Russian participation \u2013 indicates an attempt at normalisation, and that makes it all the more important for us to push back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Siluanov\u2019s appearance marked a sharp contrast with the G20 meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2022, when his virtual participation prompted officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Central Bank to walk out.<\/p>\n
White House defends talks with Russia<\/p>\n
Asked about Siluanov\u2019s attendance, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the AFP news agency that the Trump administration had been working with Russia to push for a deal that \u201cwould stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re working on here at the G20.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, Reuters and AFP, citing sources familiar with the Washington-Moscow talks, said Bessent had made clear that the US would not provide Russia with economic relief until war in Ukraine was over.<\/p>\n
Trump has pushed Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal to halt the fighting, but an initial 28-point plan that largely adhered to Russia\u2019s demands was criticised by Ukraine and European governments.<\/p>\n
The US, which currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, did not invite South Africa, last year\u2019s G20 host, to the gathering. Poland, which is not a permanent G20 member, was invited.<\/p>\n
Certain reporters from major US newsrooms, including The New York Times and Bloomberg News, were not granted credentials to cover the gathering.<\/p>\n
The decision was condemned by the National Press Club, which said that \u201cno administration should be allowed to handpick the press corps that scrutinizes it\u201d.<\/p>\n
The two-day meeting comes as global debt levels have reached a record of nearly $353 trillion and the global economy faces an energy shock triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran. The talks also come amid rising tensions over China\u2019s large trade surplus and uncertainty over the effects of a surge in artificial intelligence investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[704,43,268,30,195,82,79,25,6,26,196],"class_list":["post-35507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-conflict","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}