Russian finance minister meets US Treasury secretary in first G20 appearance since Ukraine invasion

For the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov sat down with senior Western counterparts at a G20 finance ministers meeting. The location was Asheville, North Carolina. The date was August 31, 2026. Siluanov held a private, unannounced bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the gathering. The two discussed President Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine and possible avenues for economic cooperation between Washington and Moscow, according to reporting from Bloomberg. A return nobody agreed on Russia never lost its seat at the G20 table. It just stopped showing up, at least in person. Siluanov’s Asheville appearance was his first in-person G20 finance meeting since April 2022, roughly six weeks after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. His return did not go uncontested. European officials pushed back immediately, with German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil among the loudest critics. The protests were visible enough that Siluanov quietly skipped the traditional group photo. Vladimir Putin has not attended a G20 summit in person since 2019, making Siluanov’s appearance...