G20 Foreign Ministers' Group Photo Scrapped After Several Refuse to Pose With Lavrov
Organizers of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta cancelled the traditional group photo after several ministers declined to be pictured with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Bloomberg reported.
Organizers of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, in the United States, have dropped the customary group photograph. The reason: several ministers did not want to pose next to Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. The G20 is a forum of the world's largest economies. The information comes from the news agency Bloomberg.
The photo is purely ceremonial, but Bloomberg describes it as a ritual of such gatherings, meant to show unity among global leaders. An unnamed official told the agency that organizers chose to skip the picture to avoid a diplomatic incident and keep attention on the meeting's planned agenda.
A similar case in September
A comparable situation arose in early September at a G20 finance ministers' meeting. There, too, several participants refused to pose with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. The photos were eventually taken without him.
What comes next
The foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta runs from October 30 to 31. It precedes the G20 leaders' summit planned for mid-December in Miami. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited, but the Kremlin has not yet confirmed whether he will attend.
The source does not specify which ministers refused to be photographed with Lavrov.
