U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he saw no appetite for peace from Russia in Ukraine after listening to a speech by Russia's top diplomat at a tense Group of 20 meeting in South Africa on Thursday.
Foreign ministers from G20 countries will meet in Johannesburg on Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the U.S. Diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
A G20 meeting would normally be an opportunity for a U.S. secretary of state to push for support on U.S. positions.
Nahal Toosi is POLITICO’s senior foreign affairs correspondent. She has reported on war, genocide and political chaos in a career that has taken her around the world. Her reported column, Compass, delves into the decision-making of the global national security and foreign policy establishment — and the fallout that comes from it.
Top diplomats from the Group of 20 major economies gathered in South Africa on Thursday and Friday for meetings focused on a packed global agenda, but these were overshadowed by the absence of the US's secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Rubio said he would also be skipping the main G20 summit in Johannesburg later this year due to South Africa's "DEI and climate change" frameworks