Inviting a top Russian official onto American soil has drawn fierce criticism and left Western allies fuming, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In a Tuesday editorial, The Journal's editorial board slammed the Trump administration's decision to bring Russia's finance minister to this week's G-20 gathering in North Carolina, calling the move "especially unfortunate."
"The German finance minister was justifiably angry to see Russia welcomed to such a forum for the first time since the Ukraine invasion in February 2022," the board wrote. The Journal warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "will pocket the international legitimacy from the visit and continue his terror bombing of civilians in Kyiv."
The Journal's criticism landed the same day Germany blamed Moscow for a drone attack at Leipzig airport last month. The Journal noted that the airport serves as a supply route for Ukraine. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt cast the incident as part of a wider campaign and said his country does not consider itself "at war" but has become "the daily target of hybrid warfare," according to The Journal.
Putin's "hybrid" playbook, which includes cyberattacks and dragging anchors across undersea cables, is a way to deny responsibility while forcing the West to absorb the cost of escalation, according to The Journal. The aim is to splinter NATO without firing a shot, The Journal warned.
"Mr. Putin is behaving like he thinks he can get away with flagrant provocations," The Journal wrote. "Europe for too long hasn't wanted to risk speaking plainly about the threat, which makes Germany's blunt comments this week all the more welcome."
Russia is pegged as the main culprit for 144 drone incidents across 13 countries in less than two years, according to an International Institute for Strategic Studies count cited by The Journal.
The Journal suggested that Trump's "time would be better spent trying to move the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Russian sanctions bill through the House, where its fate this week is uncertain."