The Group of Twenty (G20) Finance Ministers Conference, hosted by the United States, was held in Asheville, North Carolina, from August 31 to September 1, local time. Russian Finance Minister Anton Silvanov and representatives of the Russian Central Bank were invited to participate.
The Russian Ministry of Finance released a press release saying that between meetings, Silvanov held talks with Besent to discuss Russian-American cooperation in the financial sector and interactions within the G20 framework.
Bloomberg said it was the first time Silvanov had personally attended a G20 meeting since the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. U.S.-Russian relations remain tense due to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and the comprehensive sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, but this meeting marks a rare high-level contact between the U.S.-Russian economic teams.
Bessent and Silvanov take photos at G20 meeting Russian Ministry of Finance website
But according to Reuters, this has caused collective dissatisfaction among finance ministers and officials of European countries.
The report said that European ministers and central bank governors objected to the appearance of Russian representatives in conventional “family photos”. In the end, the organizers decided to take the photo without the Russian representative.
Germany‘s finance minister, Klingbaier, said that as long as Russia‘s war with Ukraine continues, it is impossible to achieve normalization of relations with Moscow. He revealed that Europe is preparing to implement further sanctions against Russia and hopes to cooperate closely with Washington on related measures.
“Collaborative action is the best option, but it is not clear at the moment whether the positions of all parties will be relaxed,” Klingbaier told reporters during a break in the meeting. “Therefore, I think the signal released by the Russian finance minister‘s invitation to attend the meeting is very worrying. I hope the Americans can make it clearer that they should not receive him as if he were an ordinary guest.”
He mentioned that last Sunday evening, he discussed the relevant issues with European figures including British Foreign Minister John Healey and ECB Governor Christine Lagarde, and agreed that opening dialogue channels would benefit the transmission of frank messages.
“However, the return of Russia‘s finance minister-as far as I know, Russia had previously missed four G20 meetings,” he said. “The very fact that Russia is attempting to normalize relations makes it all the more necessary for us to counterattack.”
As the host, the U.S. decided which countries to invite to the summit, but did not invite last year‘s G20 host South Africa. U.S. President Trump had threatened to stop trade with Spain, and Spain also absented from the summit.
Bloomberg News noted that during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Silvanov was responsible for Russia‘s financial affairs, including a significant increase in defense spending and efforts to mitigate the economic impact of sanctions. Any broader economic relationship improvement between Moscow and Washington could involve issues such as sanctions, financial restrictions, and access to frozen Russian assets.
Bessent is responsible for overseeing U.S. sanctions against Russia. He discussed Trump‘s Ukraine peace plan with Silvanov, according to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), citing information from the U.S. Treasury.