Sanctioned Russian finance minister attended a US-hosted G20 and met Bessent, then was left out of the group photo

Political Guyentist · September 2, 20261 min read

Siluanov, under US sanctions since April 2022, met Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the US-hosted G20 finance meeting. He does not appear in the official group photograph.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the signal sent by receiving Siluanov "quite troubling."
The same meeting ended with no joint communiqué; Bessent blamed China.

What we’re less sure of3 of 7 claims

Medium
Siluanov attended a US-hosted G20 finance meeting in person, his first physical G20 attendance on US soil since the invasion of Ukraine.
Multiple named outlets (NBC News, TIME, Washington Post, National Review) report the attendance, but the 'first physical attendance on US soil since the invasion' framing is the desk's own comparative inference built from Reuters/Euronews and World Bank records of prior delegations rather than a sta
Medium
Siluanov was cut from the official G20 group photograph after European objections.
Carried by NBC News and consistent with Washington Post and Axios reporting on European protest, but the causal link between the European objections and the photo exclusion is asserted by the story without naming who ordered the removal.
Medium
Bessent told Siluanov that no US economic relief for Moscow comes until the Ukraine war ends.
Hedged by the story as 'reportedly'; sourced to the NBC News meeting account and an Associated Press report on Bessent's refusal rather than to a direct on-record quote from Bessent.