Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 gathering in Asheville, North Carolina, the Russian government said in a statement.
The two officials discussed bilateral financial cooperation and cooperation within the G20, according to the statement. This is the first time Siluanov traveled to a G20 meeting in person since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The talks mark a rare high-level contact between the US and Russian economic teams as relations remain strained over the war in Ukraine and sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
Siluanov’s presence in Asheville, where finance ministers and central bankers are meeting this week, drew opposition from European officials. German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said he and his peers refused to pose with the Russian minister for the traditional group photo.
“The fact alone that the Russian finance minister is taking part again after four G20 meetings without Russia shows that there is an attempt at normalization, and all the more we have to push back against that: there is no normal situation with Russia right now,” Klingbeil said in a statement.
The German minister said inviting his Russian counterpart “is something I find irritating, because I would have wished for there to be clarity from the American side that he is not received here like a normal guest.”
The Treasury Department didn’t respond to requests seeking comment.
Siluanov has overseen Russia’s finances throughout the war, including a sharp increase in defense spending and efforts to cushion the economy from sanctions. Any broader improvement in economic ties between Moscow and Washington would likely involve issues including sanctions, financial restrictions and access to frozen Russian assets.
Bessent oversees US sanctions policy against Russia. He discussed with Siluanov President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine, NBC News reported, citing the Treasury Department.
Trump’s administration has continued trying to advance its framework for ending the conflict even as negotiations have struggled to produce a breakthrough and Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart over the terms of any settlement.
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