Rishi ‘may confront Russia’ at G20 talks

RISHI Sunak, backed by international allies, could use the G20 summit to “confront” Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, Downing Street says.

It is not yet clear whether the Russian leader, who has faced worldwide condemnation for the invasion, will attend this month’s meeting in Indonesia.

But it is confirmed the Prime Minister will go to the G20 in Bali next week and is expected to meet world leaders including US President Joe Biden.

Yesterday Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is of the view that it would be right we confront any Russian official who attends about their ongoing illegal war.”

He declined to fully answer whether the PM would sit down with President Putin, if the Russian leader attends.

The spokesman added that Mr Sunak “is of the view that he will speak with allies, whether it’s G7 or other allies, to further confront this illegal aggression”.

Apocalypse

It came as the US confirmed yesterday it was still talking to Moscow in a bid to end the war and avoid a nuclear apocalypse.

But the White House stressed President Biden’s administration was “clear-eyed about who we are dealing with”.

US National Security Adviser

Jake Sullivan has privately admitted a dialogue has continued between Washington and Moscow despite the conflict.

Mr Sullivan, speaking in New York, said it was “in the interests” of the US to maintain contact. It emerged he has been holding discussions with Kremlin Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev and senior foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.

Senior officials said they discussed ways to guard against the risk of nuclear escalation but did

Invited...Putin not have negotiations around ways to end the conflict. Mr Sullivan has previously warned any use of nuclear weapons would have “catastrophic consequences for Russia”. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the West of “numerous hoaxes”. Separate reports out of Russia yesterday also claimed that Moscow and Washington were discussing holding talks on strategic nuclear weapons, with a possible faceto-face meeting in the Middle East later this month.