The Kremlin announced on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet made a decision regarding his attendance at the G20 summit scheduled for December in the United States. This statement follows reports from Russian media indicating that Moscow had received a formal invitation to the event.
Putin has not participated in a G20 meeting since 2019. His absence has been attributed initially to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequently to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
When asked by AFP whether Putin would attend this year's summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded, "no such decisions have been made yet."
According to the state news agency RIA Novosti, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin confirmed that Russia was invited at "the highest level" for the summit, which is set to take place in Miami on December 14-15.
Since Russia launched its military intervention in Ukraine in 2022, the country has faced extensive international sanctions and diplomatic isolation from Western nations. In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin related to the conflict, which restricts his travel options.
The United States is not a member of the ICC. Notably, Putin traveled to Alaska last August for a summit with US President Donald Trump. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has been working to revive long-frozen relations with Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.
Although Trump initially promised to resolve the conflict within 24 hours, his attempts have yielded limited tangible results despite multiple rounds of talks involving Moscow and Kyiv.
