Trump on Russian representative attending G20 meeting: "We like getting along with everybody"

Commenting on the presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at the G20 meeting in Asheville, US President Donald Trump has said that Washington "likes getting along with everybody".

Source: Trump speaking to journalists; The New York Times

Details: Asked by a journalist why Russia had been invited to the summit, Trump said he likes getting along with everybody.

Quote: "We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I'm so successful, I get along with everybody."

Details: According to The New York Times, Siluanov's unexpected presence made the opening of the G20 meeting tense. It was the first time a Russian minister had personally attended such a meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

European allies were angered by the US decision to invite Siluanov to the meeting. German Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil publicly condemned the Russian minister over Russia's aggression against Ukraine and expressed dissatisfaction with the US decision to host him.

Klingbeil and his counterparts from several European countries also threatened to boycott the traditional group photo of the finance ministers if Siluanov took part. According to the NYT, the threat worked, as Siluanov was not in the photograph.

Background:

• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met his Russian "counterpart" Anton Siluanov at the G20 summit.
• The Russian Finance Ministry later said that Bessent and Siluanov had discussed "issues of Russian-US cooperation in the financial sector" and "cooperation within the G20".

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