U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa’s policies as anti-American.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he saw no appetite for peace from Russia in Ukraine after listening to a speech by Russia's top diplomat at a tense Group of 20 meeting in South Africa on Thursday.

A G20 meeting would normally be an opportunity for a U.S. secretary of state to push for support on U.S. positions.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa's policies as anti-American.

A meeting of foreign ministers from G20 countries will get underway in Johannesburg on Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the U.

The absence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio hung over the year’s first high-level meeting of the world’s largest economies, with diplomats fretting over turbulent times.

Foreign ministers from the world's top economies are meeting for the G20 in South Africa. But the U.S. is conspicuous in its absence.

The erosion of multilateralism threatens global growth and stability, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned Wednesday at a G20 finance meeting in South Africa marked by the absence of the US treasury secretary.