Kommentar: Lawrows Gebaren ist unerträglich – Trump macht’s möglich

The comment made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the matter is intolerable. In a situation where Russia's external representative Sergej Lavrov clashed with his European counterparts and U.S. host Marco Rubio over the appropriateness of a group photograph at the G20 meeting in Atlanta, Vladimir Putin, the authoritarian ruler in the Kremlin, calmly walks through Ukraine leaving a trail of blood.

This raises the question as to whether the larger scandal is the fact that Lavrov was invited at all or that the German Foreign Minister, his European colleagues, and Rubio meet with Lavrov at the Oceans Ballroom in the Georgia Aquarium for an evening reception, chatting and joking while children, mothers, and numerous soldiers continue to die in Ukraine.

Europeans might feel satisfied in having refused to pose with the Russian Foreign Minister for a photograph, but this is a far from impressive form of protest. A complete boycott would have made a far greater impression on Moscow. It was apparent that nothing significant would come out of this meeting other than the Russian side being able to simulate normality on a diplomatic level.