On the menu today: A G-20 meeting of finance ministers isn’t usually all that exciting. But this year’s gathering in Asheville, N.C., has the twin controversies of the U.S. government barring South Africa from attending — Elon Musk no doubt is applauding somewhere — and the Trump administration’s decision to invite the Russian government for the first time in four years. Once again, those of us who want to see Russia’s influence on the world stage decline are left asking: What’s the upside here? How does rolling out the red carpet for representatives from Moscow who are still on a U.S. sanctions list amount to prioritizing American interests? Read on.
A Concerning Invitation
Yesterday’s Morning Jolt concluded, “Whether the president wants to acknowledge this or not, Iran, Russia, and China are all on the same team, aligned against us.” A reader objected, contending that surely the president recognizes this.
He sure doesn’t act like it.
In the delightful city of Asheville, N.C., finance ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies are meeting this week. And for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a representative of Vladimir Putin’s regime is in attendance . . . at the insistence of the Trump administration. From Politico:
The Trump administration’s decision to bring Russia back into the fold at a gathering of the world’s leading economic officials is stirring fresh tensions with European allies who want to continue isolating Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was in the room Monday for the first day of the U.S.-hosted G20 talks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also held a one-on-one meeting with Siluanov on the sidelines of the summit.
Siluanov’s attendance, however, was vocally opposed by European officials in Asheville on Monday, and the decision to include the Russian official in the meeting caused a stir in the planning of a group photo of participants.
Keep in mind, Anton Siluanov is still listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.
The invitation to Siluanov was not announced beforehand, probably because the administration recognized that a lot of European delegations would object.
Germany’s vice chancellor and finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, said, “Receiving the Russian finance minister here sends a signal I find troubling. I would have preferred clear positioning from the U.S. side that he not be received like a regular guest.”
How are the Russians reciprocating this surprisingly generous gesture from the Trump administration?
Shortly before Siluanov arrived, the Russian government publicly argued that the South African government’s exclusion from the G-20 summit was an “an egregious violation.” In December, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S., as the host nation, was making some changes to the usual invite list:
Poland, a nation that was once trapped behind the Iron Curtain but now ranks among the world’s 20 largest economies, will be joining us to assume its rightful place in the G20. Poland’s success is proof that a focus on the future is a better path than one on grievances. It shows how partnership with the United States and American companies can promote mutual prosperity and growth.
The contrast with South Africa, host of this year’s G20, is stark. . . .
As President Trump has rightly highlighted, the South African government’s appetite for racism and tolerance for violence against its Afrikaner citizens have become embedded as core domestic policies. It seems intent on enriching itself while the country’s economy limps along, all while South Africans are subject to violence, discrimination, and land confiscation without compensation. . . .
President Trump and the United States will not be extending an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G20 during our presidency. There is a place for good faith disagreement, but not dishonesty or sabotage.
The United States supports the people of South Africa, but not its radical ANC-led government, and will not tolerate its continued behavior. . . .
Polish minister of foreign affairs Radosław Sikorski — a longtime contributor to National Review — walked the tightrope, declaring, “Our G20 aspirations have never been about replacing anyone, let alone our close partners.” Poland has a guest delegation in Asheville this week.
It is good that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Siluanov that no sanctions relief or new agreements are possible as long as the war in Ukraine continues. But that same message could have been communicated with a phone call; there was no need for the U.S. to invite Siluanov to North Carolina for this.
And remember, this comes after CIA director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow, sending a direct and clear message to the Russian government not to attempt any attack against any NATO country.
Why are we rolling out the red carpet — no, really, literally, there’s a red carpet outside the entrance of the Omni Grove Park Inn — for Siluanov? Didn’t we learn anything from the last time we had U.S. service members on their hands and knees in Alaska, literally rolling out a red carpet for Putin?
How many bombings of hospitals and clinics are required before you’re no longer invited to summits on American soil? Because the Russians are up to 1,750 as of this morning.
The G-20 and the G-7 are two different summit meetings. (Russia currently ranks ninth in terms of GDP.) In 1997, the G-7 expanded to become the G-8, adding Russia. Then in 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the group expelled Russia and became the G-7 again.
Trump, for many years, has argued that Russia’s exclusion was unfair. At the G-7 summit in June 2025, Trump said:
The G-7 used to be the G-8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were President four years ago, but it didn’t work out that way.
But it used to be the G-8 and now it’s — I guess, what’s that, nine years ago, eight years ago it switched over. They threw Russia out, which I claimed was a very big mistake, even though I wasn’t in politics then. I was very loud about it. It was a mistake in that you spend so much time talking about Russia and he’s no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated.
But you wouldn’t have had the war.
Trump made similar remarks this past June. The notion that keeping Russia in the group and remaining the G-8 would have prevented Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 is delusional.
In April, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it received an invitation to a G-20 meeting of heads of state in Miami, hosted at Trump’s Doral Golf resort.
When you make a concession to the Russian government, they put it in their pocket and wait for the next concession. They feel no obligation to reciprocate, or any need to express gratitude. In the eyes of Russian leaders, any concession like a restored invitation is a demonstration of weakness; they accept it as a tribute to their power and greatness. The lesson they learn is that their behavior is getting them what they want; if they simply hold out and seem implacable, more concessions will follow.
Since President Trump took office, U.S. donations of military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine have virtually stopped. Thankfully, the Europeans are still purchasing U.S. weapons systems and transferring them to the Ukrainians:
From January to June 2026, European donors procured military aid worth at least EUR 3 billion [$3.4 billion] from US defense companies. This corresponds to around 30 percent of Europe’s military aid provided through defense industry procurement. US stockpiles played a particularly important role under the NATO PURL initiative, accounting for more than 90 percent of the military aid provided through the mechanism.
“Europe continues to depend on the access to US weapons systems to sustain its military support for Ukraine,” says Federico Mellace, Lead Analyst of the Ukraine Support Tracker. “The United States remains a key supplier of systems such as Patriot, for which Europe has only limited alternatives at the moment. In the longer term, the key question will be whether Europe can develop and produce reliable substitutes to key US defense systems to gradually reduce this dependence.”
Trump’s special envoy for just about every major trouble spot, Steve Witkoff, has visited Moscow eight times. He has never visited Ukraine — not even a quick trip over the border to Lviv.
The president continues to blurt out nonsense like, “Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. Once — it sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the president, President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity, and other things at very low prices.”
We’ve seen the president rage against plenty of leaders of U.S. allies. But when the topic turns to Xi Jinping, Trump keeps gushing about what good friends they are, and Trump can never seem to get all that angry at Putin.
So, no, I don’t think it’s self-evident that President Trump understands that Iran, Russia, and China are all on the same team, aligned against us.
ADDENDUM: Over in the Washington Post, an observation that apparently even the most hardline MAGA types get squeamish about deporting those in the country illegally once it’s someone they know personally.
In case you missed it yesterday, despite the president’s bold claims, we will not be using Venezuelan oil to “top out” the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve “very shortly.” The SPR is at its lowest level since 1982. Elsewhere, I am not a fan of having two passenger airliners doing exceptionally low flyovers of a sports stadium. Really bad time of year for this, fellas.