The United States canceled a planned group photograph at a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta after several European delegations refused to appear with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, BBC, DW, Al Jazeera and CNN reported^1,2,3,4.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting the gathering^1,2,4. Two officials confirmed the cancellation to BBC¹. CNN said more than a third of attending officials had threatened to walk out rather than be pictured with Lavrov, and that Washington had explored taking two photos before Rubio dropped the idea⁴.

A U.S. official told BBC the photo was canceled after some delegations were unwilling to take part, so the ceremonial shot would not become a diplomatic distraction¹. Al Jazeera, citing dpa, quoted German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul as saying there would be no family photo featuring European partners together with Lavrov³.

A British official said the United Kingdom has a longstanding policy against direct bilateral engagement with Russian ministers since the invasion of Ukraine¹. BBC said U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband later addressed Lavrov at the meeting over the war in Ukraine¹.

Al Jazeera said the Atlanta talks were overshadowed by the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and that Lavrov arrived ahead of the session, according to Russian state media³. Ukraine is not a G20 member and was not invited to this meeting, BBC said¹. Whether a similar boycott will affect a later G20 leaders’ meeting was not established in these accounts^1,2,3,4.