US irks Germany, Europe with Russian G20 invite, press bans

G20 finance ministers and central bank heads gathered in Asheville, North Carolina for two days of talks.

The session is being overshadowed by dissatisfaction over the White House welcoming Russia to the meeting but not some critical reporters, the war with Iran and its economic fallout, and Donald Trump 's latest trade dispute with Canada .

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made an unexpected appearance as talks opened late on Monday. He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

"We like getting along with everybody," Trump told reporters when asked about the first in-person Russian invite since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine .

The US currently holds the rotating G20 presidency and so is hosting the session.

The US government told several news agencies on condition of anonymity that Bessent used the meeting to tell Siluanov that the US would not give Russia economic relief until it brings its four-and-a-half-year invasion to a close.

"Receiving the Russian finance minister here sends a troubling signal," German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said.

He said he and his European colleagues made clear that they would not appear in the traditional "family photo" alongside the Russian media, saying this was a common EU position.