Russia’s finance minister attended a G20 meeting in person for the first time since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting protests from European officials. Anton Siluanov joined finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina, on Monday, marking his first in-person appearance at such a gathering since the invasion. European officials immediately protested Siluanov’s presence, with German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil and several other European representatives threatening to boycott the traditional group photograph if the Russian minister joined them, the New York Times reported. Siluanov ultimately did not take part in the photograph. “I find the signal sent by receiving the Russian finance minister here quite troubling,” Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s finance minister, said. “I would have wanted greater clarity from the American side that he should not be received here as a normal guest,” he added. ‘You can’t simply return to normality’ Klingbeil said that there could be no return to “normality” with Moscow while it continued its aggression against Ukraine. “People are dying every day, we have just seen another escalation in the attacks,” Klingbeil said. “You cannot simply return to normality.” Isolated but not expelled Russia remains a full member of the G20 despite Western efforts to isolate Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Siluanov last participated in a G20 finance ministers’ meeting virtually in April 2022, shortly after the invasion began. Several Western officials walked out when he started speaking. Russia has nevertheless continued to participate in other G20 meetings. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has not attended a G20 summit in person since 2019. While it remains a member of the G20, Russia was, however, suspended from the G8 in 2014 following its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula. The group has since continued as the G7 without Moscow.