A G20 finance gathering became the setting on Tuesday for the first direct economic contact between senior US and Russian officials in years, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov. European delegates objected to Moscow’s presence at the table.
Bessent told Siluanov that Russia would receive no economic relief while its war in Ukraine continued, according to reports of the closed-door exchange. The message paired an openness to dialogue with a refusal to lift sanctions until the fighting stops.
Washington’s decision to bring Siluanov back into the discussions broke with the approach favoured by European capitals, which have sought to keep Russia isolated from multilateral economic forums for the duration of the conflict.
Several European finance officials declined to sit with the Russian delegation and voiced their opposition to the meeting. The split exposed a widening gap between the US and its European partners over how to handle Moscow while the war drags on.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western governments have imposed successive rounds of sanctions targeting Russian banks, energy exports and central bank reserves. Russian officials had been largely sidelined from high-level G20 economic talks in the years that followed.
The reopening of a direct channel reflects a shift in Washington’s posture toward negotiation. Earlier this year, US and Ukrainian leaders met at Davos as part of a push to advance peace efforts, and talks between Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly stalled over what negotiators have called complex issues.
European officials have continued to press for pressure over engagement. The bloc’s foreign policy chief has warned that Russia was escalating attacks rather than moving toward a settlement, a stance echoed by several member states resisting any easing of Moscow’s diplomatic isolation.
Siluanov’s participation gives Russia a seat in economic coordination discussions it had been excluded from, even as the sanctions architecture remains in place. Bessent’s stated condition ties any future relief directly to an end to hostilities.
No joint statement followed the US-Russia exchange, and no easing of sanctions was announced. The talks left in place the core condition set by Washington: relief only when the war ends.