G20 Scraps Family Photo as Lavrov Crashes Party

The G20 foreign ministers met in Atlanta, and the group photo got cancelled Friday morning after several European diplomats refused to stand for one with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The BBC reports the UK says it doesn't do direct dealings with Russian ministers since the invasion of Ukraine. A US official says the photo was dropped to avoid a diplomatic distraction, which is a fancy way of saying nobody wanted to be in the same frame. Back home, nobody makes the cousin who started the trouble stand in the family picture either. Ukraine wasn't invited, and US-Ukraine relations have been tense this month, so the seating chart was never going to be easy. Nobody in Atlanta had to fake a smile, which is more honesty than most family reunions get.