G20 ministers refuse to be photographed with Lavrov

There will be no ministerial photo ceremony at the G20 summit, as US and other foreign ministers refused to stand next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Japanese Kyodo.

Earlier, CNN reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who flew to Bali for the G20 summit, would not participate in the traditional photo session of foreign ministers because of Lavrov.

Besides, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi refused to attend a welcome dinner for delegates in protest against the presence of his Russian counterpart. The ministers boycotting the event did not prevent Lavrov from holding meetings with Chinese and Turkish Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the summit.