Putin may attend G20 summit in India, Bloomberg writes

Bloomberg reports that the Kremlin is clearing the autocrat calendar around the date of the event, citing people familiar with the planning.

Putin skipped the last two G20 summits amid mounting pressure over the war in Ukraine. Sources close to Putin’s agenda, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Kremlin is currently planning for him to attend the next summit, although a final decision has yet to be made.

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This week, the annual economic forum in Vladivostok, scheduled on the eve of the G20 summit, was notably postponed to a week “due to the calendar of international events”. This, according to Bloomberg, would make Putin’s trip to India possible.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, the outlet wrote.

India officially invited Putin to the G20 leaders’ summit on September 9-10 and the Kremlin accepted.

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Previously, before the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022, the Kremlin had also refused to provide a clear answer as to whether Putin would attend in person. Eventually, the Russian dictator declined to attend the summit, even refusing an online appearance. The Kremlin justified the move on alleged scheduling issues and Putin’s “need to be in Russia”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was sent to Bali instead, but faced a cold reception from G20 member states and fled the summit before it was completed. Only the representatives of India and China negotiated with him.

The recent meeting of G20 foreign ministers held in New Delhi in early March saw bitter divisions over Russia’s war on Ukraine and ended without a joint statement, with Russia and China having blocked the joint statement agreed at the previous G20 summit in Bali.

Putin’s future international travel could be severely limited if Ukraine’s expected war crimes cases against the Russian dictator prove successful.

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