Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit the United States to participate in the meeting of G20 foreign ministers. The event will take place on October 30–31 in Atlanta under the US presidency. The trip comes amid preparations for a new round of talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.
This was reported by Bloomberg on October 28, citing a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
According to Zakharova, Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation at the two-day G20 foreign ministers' meeting. Most organizational issues related to the trip were resolved just before the event.
One of the problems was issuing US visas to Russian diplomats. According to Zakharova, the procedure was accompanied by delays, which left the delegation's participation in question for some time.
As early as October 22, the Russian side stated possible obstacles to participation. At that time, Moscow claimed it had sent a list of representatives to the American organizers almost two months before the meeting, but did not receive the necessary organizational confirmations in a timely manner.
Now the Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Lavrov intends to personally attend the event.
What will be discussed in Atlanta
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting will be chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. According to an official statement by the US State Department, the talks will focus on international economic cooperation, strengthening global stability and supply chain resilience.
The American side also intends to discuss geopolitical crises affecting the world economy, including threats to freedom of navigation, energy and food security.
The Russian delegation, according to Zakharova, plans to raise issues of international conflicts, geopolitical tensions and reform of global economic institutions.
At the same time, no separate bilateral talks between Lavrov and Rubio have been officially announced yet. The very participation of the Russian minister in the G20 meeting does not mean that an additional diplomatic meeting has been agreed between Moscow and Washington.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also intends to use the meeting in Atlanta to discuss ending the Russian war against Ukraine. As reported by Ukrinform, Berlin considers it necessary to involve the Russian minister in discussing the consequences of the war for the world economy, including food supply problems.
Visit amid preparations for Ukraine talks
Lavrov's trip will take place shortly before the expected resumption of trilateral consultations between Ukraine, the US and Russia.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 28 that Kyiv expects confirmation of the final date of the meeting. Preliminary talks may take place from November 6 to 10. Abu Dhabi was previously mentioned as a possible venue.
Among the issues Ukraine intends to discuss with partners are stopping strikes on energy infrastructure, prisoner exchanges, de-escalation at sea, and preparing possible talks at the level of state leaders.
However, there is no confirmation yet that Lavrov intends to discuss these issues separately with American representatives in Atlanta.
The visit is also notable because the Russian foreign minister has been under personal US sanctions since February 2022. The restrictions were imposed after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Preparations for the December G20 summit
The ministerial meeting in Atlanta will be one of the preparatory events for the G20 leaders' summit scheduled for December 14–15 in Miami.
Earlier, Marco Rubio said that Russia was invited to the summit and Vladimir Putin could potentially come to the US. However, Washington has not yet received confirmation of his attendance.
The Kremlin has also stated that a final decision on Putin's personal participation has not yet been made.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his part, expressed readiness to take part in the December summit if the United States sends a corresponding invitation.
Thus, Lavrov's upcoming visit to Atlanta will be a confirmed diplomatic contact between Russia and international partners on US soil, but the possibility of separate talks with American leadership and their agenda remain open.
Based on materials from: Bloomberg, European Pravda, US State Department, Anadolu.
