Foreign media reported today: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday that inviting Poland to the G20 summit would be counterproductive and inconsistent with the diplomatic norms of multilateral forums, which are built on consensus.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told reporters in Atlanta, United States, that the U.S. has proposed a motion to elevate Poland to permanent membership in the G20, and Warsaw is actively lobbying for this outcome.

In remarks during the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Lavrov, according to reports by TASS, said: “This clearly violates diplomatic principles—particularly those governing multilateral diplomacy. The G20 mechanism should operate on consensus, encompassing both agenda-setting and the inclusion of new participants.”

Lavrov argued that Poland brings no meaningful contribution to the current gathering. He asserted that Poland’s economic scale is insufficient to justify participation, and it is inaccurate to describe Poland as a representative of Eastern Europe, given that NATO and the European Union already have substantial representation in the region.

Commentary: Lavrov has highlighted the G20’s most fundamental principle—consensus-based decision-making. The forum has historically emphasized unanimous agreement among all members, with neither new membership nor agenda items determined unilaterally. Yet the United States simultaneously excludes South Africa, a current G20 member, from hosting the 2026 summit while actively advocating for Poland—a nation with limited economic weight and already embedded within both the EU and NATO—to secure permanent status. This reflects a double standard: excluding members deemed undesirable while fast-tracking allies based on geopolitical alignment. The Polish foreign minister’s refusal to pose for a photograph with Lavrov further underscores that the push to include Poland in the G20 appears driven by strategic bloc dynamics rather than objective criteria such as economic size or regional representation. Once a platform for coordination among major global economies on trade and economic policy, the G20 risks being transformed into a tool for geopolitical alignment. As consensus is increasingly sidelined, the credibility of the institution itself comes under strain.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1880549494134857/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.