Published September 1st, 2026 - 09:00 GMT
ALBAWABA - A G20 summit took place in North Carolina on Monday, where to the rest of the G20 leaders’ surprise, Russia attended the summit — marking its first participation since invading Ukraine four years ago.Those attending on the Russian side were Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, alongside representatives of the Russian Central Bank, all coming at the behest of Donald Trump, who did not make the invitations public prior to the summit — surprising G20 leaders.Unsurprisingly, the arrival of the Russian delegation was met with nothing but hostility by the rest of the European members with German vice chancellor and finance minister Lars Klingbeil being especially incensed at Siluanov’s presence.“I find the signal sent by receiving the Russian finance minister here quite troubling,” Klingbeil told reporters, “I would have wanted greater clarity from the American side that he should not be received here as a normal guest.”“You cannot simply return to normality,” he said.After the meeting, tensions rose again as G20 custom is to take a group photo — European officials unanimously rejected Siluanov’s presence in the photo, who instead had his picture taken with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.This is a signature move of Trump wherein he cozies up to rivals at the expense of allies — having done the same recently with North and South Korea.Q: What was the thinking behind inviting the Russians to the G20 meeting in Ashville?Trump: We like getting along with everybody(Except Canada, Mexico, the European Union, South Korea, and some of our other long-standing allies) pic.twitter.com/cPOXkjfbnK— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 31, 2026 Trump has had a long-time soft spot for Russia in particular, saying in 2018 that Russia should be “at the negotiating table” of the G7 — the following year he said that turning the G7 into the G8 with Russia would be a “positive thing.”Most recently, in April, Trump stated that he plans to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the next G20 December summit in Miami.
