Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 skipped the traditional group photograph ahead of their meeting in Atlanta on October 30, after European representatives objected to being photographed alongside Russia. The missing “family photo” became the most visible sign of the divisions hanging over a two-day gathering meant to prepare the ground for a leaders’ summit in December.
The ministers, including Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, began their first session without having posed for photographers. The United States State Department agenda for the meeting did not include the so-called family shot, and a United States official said it had been taken off the agenda because Washington did not want it to become a spectacle or a distraction.
Key Takeaways
- G20 foreign ministers skipped the traditional group photo ahead of their meeting in Atlanta on October 30.
- European representatives objected to being photographed alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
- The meeting itself went ahead as planned and is meant to prepare for a G20 leaders’ summit in Miami in December.
What Happened in Atlanta
The G20 meeting in Atlanta is hosted by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who opened the talks with an appeal for unity on issues threatening international security and global trade. The gathering is a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the world’s largest economies, and it takes place just days before crucial United States midterm elections.
Group photographs are a long-standing ritual at such gatherings, a moment when ministers stand together for the cameras before closed-door talks begin. This time, there was no such moment. Ministers went straight into their first plenary session, leaving photographers without the customary image of the group assembled together.
According to a Western diplomat cited in the reporting, a third of the participants, including Australia and Canada, made clear they opposed the idea of being photographed alongside Lavrov. European officials had earlier suggested there might be two separate pictures, one with Lavrov and one without, but in the end there was no group photograph at all.
Why European Ministers Objected
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul put the European position bluntly before the first session on October 30. “In no case will there be a family photo with European partners and Mr. Lavrov together because … there is no normalcy with Russia,” he told reporters.
In no case will there be a family photo with European partners and Mr. Lavrov together because … there is no normalcy with Russia.
The objection reflects the wider tensions around Russia’s participation in the gathering. Several G20 countries had already raised concerns about the United States inviting Russia, despite Moscow’s war against Ukraine, which began in February 2022. European G20 members back Ukraine, which has objected to recent United States decisions on Russia, including a deal to buy diesel and the waiving of some sanctions.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, called the cancellation of the group photograph “the right decision.” The British Foreign Office, meanwhile, reiterated the United Kingdom’s longstanding policy of avoiding direct bilateral engagement with Russian ministers over the war in Ukraine.
- The State Department agenda did not include the traditional family photo
- A third of participants, including Australia and Canada, opposed posing alongside Lavrov, according to a Western diplomat
- European officials had floated two separate photographs, one with Lavrov and one without
- The talks themselves proceeded as planned despite the skipped photograph
What the Meeting Is Meant to Do
Behind the photograph dispute, the Atlanta meeting has a practical purpose. It is intended to lay the groundwork for the G20 leaders’ summit, which United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to host at his Doral resort in Miami in December. The foreign ministers’ talks are expected to be fractious, with wars in Ukraine and Iran and surging energy prices fanning discord among the participants.
The skipped photograph is not the only recent sign of strain in Western unity over Ukraine. The United States recently approved a $2.1 billion Patriot missile sale to Ukraine, with funding routed through allied contributions and European Union financing, while at the same time Ukraine has raised concerns about delayed missile deliveries. Separately, Canada and the European Union have launched a new alliance aimed at cementing their own relations, including a major support loan for Ukraine.
For the ministers in Atlanta, the absence of a photograph will not change the agenda items in front of them: international security, global trade, energy prices and the wars that continue to divide the group. But the empty space where the photograph should have been says something about the state of that group itself. A ritual designed to project unity was set aside precisely because unity, at least for a photograph, could not be agreed.
What to Watch Next
What to watch next is only what this story has already set out: whether the ministers’ talks in Atlanta produce any agreed language on security, trade or energy; whether the divisions over Russia’s presence resurface at the December leaders’ summit in Miami; and whether the group photograph, skipped in Atlanta, returns at that summit or stays missing. Until then, the picture from Atlanta is the one that was never taken.