- Russian President Vladimir Putin will most likely attend the G20 summit in September in India’s capital New Delhi, Bloomberg has reported.
- No official confirmation has been issued in this regard, even though India has formally invited Putin and the Kremlin has accepted it.
- Last year, Putin did not participate in the G20 event in Bali, Indonesia, and instead sent Foreign Minister. A year before that as well Putin did not attend the leaders’ gathering in Rome.
- This comes days after the G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi in early March saw bitter divisions over the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will most likely attend the G20 summit in September in India’s capital New Delhi, Bloomberg has reported citing officials. According to the reports, Russia is working to clear Putin’s schedule to make it possible for the president to participate in the gathering after he had to skip the last two summits.
No official confirmation has been issued in this regard, even though India has formally invited Putin and the Kremlin has accepted it. The report further mentions that the Kremlin is gearing up for an annual economic forum in Vladivostok, which was scheduled to take place on the eve of the September 9-10 summit.
But it was pushed to a week later to give Putin greater flexibility and open the possibility that senior officials from India and China might attend the forum, Bloomberg report quoting sources. Last year, Putin did not participate in the G20 event in Bali, Indonesia, and instead sent Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his place amidst pressure from the West over the Ukraine invasion. A year before that as well Putin did not attend the leaders’ gathering in Rome as he was planning his invasion of Ukraine.
This comes days after the G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi in early March saw bitter divisions over the Russia-Ukraine war. India had wanted to focus on other issues affecting developing nations, but it said the differences over Ukraine “could not be reconciled”. “We tried, but the gap between the countries was too much,” India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar said.
On the sidelines of the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Lavrov for about 10 minutes and told him that the West would stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, a senior state department official said. Blinken also pressed Russia to re-join the New Start nuclear arms control treaty that it recently withdrew from and abide by the terms.
