Russia Challenges US Authority Over South Africa’s G20 Exclusion
Russia has challenged the United States’ handling of South Africa’s exclusion from the 2026 G20 summit, turning Pretoria’s dispute with Washington into a wider question over how membership and participation in the group are determined.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Moscow argues that the United States, as the current G20 host, does not have the authority to prevent an existing member from attending the group’s meetings.
South Africa remains a full and founding member of the G20, but the United States has excluded it from this year’s meetings and has not invited it to the leaders’ summit scheduled for Miami in December. Pretoria has said it will not attend without an invitation and will not encourage other members to boycott the summit.
The dispute has gained further attention because US President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Miami summit. Putin remains subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, although the United States is not a member of the court.
For South Africa, the controversy centres on its status as a permanent member of the G20, while Russia has framed it as a question of the powers of the rotating presidency. The disagreement could therefore add another layer of diplomatic tension ahead of the December summit and raise broader questions about how decisions affecting the group’s members are made.
