MOSCOW – Russia said on Wednesday that Washington had not confirmed the names on its delegation list for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Russian officials would attend.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing that the United States was creating “artificial restrictions” on the participation of Russian diplomats, according to Interfax. She said new information from Washington overnight showed that the names Moscow had submitted were not receiving the logistical support and confirmation Russian officials had been promised, in remarks reported by Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Zakharova said the ministry gave US authorities the required documents, including delegation lists, two months ago, and rejected any suggestion that Russia had failed to file or process anything. Moscow was now examining the situation, she said. She described the developments as “alarming trends” but said Russian experts were actively preparing for what she called an important event. The reports reviewed do not specify what the restrictions are, and no US response to her allegation has been found.
The complaint follows Moscow’s earlier allegations that Washington was blocking Russian delegates during its G20 presidency. That earlier dispute does not establish the accuracy of Wednesday’s claims.
Rubio, speaking to reporters in India on Wednesday, said he expected Russian participation in Atlanta. TASS reported that he expected Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to take part, while a US radio summary of the same remarks said he did not know whether Lavrov would attend. Nothing in the reports reviewed presents his comments as a reply to Zakharova’s complaint.
Rubio will host the Atlanta meeting on October 30 and 31, according to the State Department’s hosting announcement. This is the foreign ministers’ gathering, not the separate leaders’ summit in Miami, which has featured in debate over a possible Putin-Zelenskyy meeting.
Access to US-hosted G20 events has drawn scrutiny before. The Eastern Herald previously reported the denial of press credentials at the Asheville finance meeting, a separate episode involving journalists rather than Russia’s Atlanta delegation.
Wednesday’s exchange adds another dispute to Russia’s participation in the US-hosted G20 process. Moscow says its preparations continue despite the problems it alleges, and Rubio says Russian officials will attend; whether Lavrov himself travels to Atlanta is still unclear.
