Moscow, Russia - Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov will use his speech at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in the US to argue against international sanctions, Moscow said Thursday.
Russia had announced on Wednesday that Lavrov would travel to Atlanta for the October 30-31 gathering, ahead of fresh talks next month between officials from Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington on trying to broker an end to the Ukraine war.
During his visit and meetings at the summit, Lavrov will lay out Russia's "vision of the main catalysts of international tensions," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
He will also slam "the use of economic 'weapons' against opponents, including sanctions, trade wars, and the disruption of supply chains," it added.
Multiple countries and international institutions have slapped sanctions on Russia after over the conflict it launched in Ukraine in 2022. The war has escalated into Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
President Donald Trump this month struck an agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease some sanctions allowing Moscow to release diesel onto global markets.
Washington has also invited Putin to the G20 leaders' summit that will take place in Miami on December 14-15.
The Kremlin said it had not yet decided if Putin would attend.
In a statement Thursday, the Russian foreign ministry said preparations for the ministerial meeting this week had not gone smoothly. It had "once again encountered US bureaucratic red tape and difficulties with accreditation and the issuance of visas."
"Intensive work with the US side continues with a view to removing all such artificial restrictions, including in the context of preparations for the forum's summit in Miami on December 14–15," the ministry added.