Putin to skip G20 summit
Vladimir Putin will not attend a gathering of G20 leaders in Indonesia next week, avoiding Western leaders keen to confront him for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is set to lead the Russian delegation at the two-day summit in Bali, beginning 15 November. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G20 events, told reporters that Mr Putin confirmed his absence
from the summit to Indonesian president Joko Widodo and confirmed that Mr Lavrov will be present on his behalf.
“The Indonesian government respects the decision of the Russian government, which President Putin himself previously explained to president Joko Widodo in a very friendly telephone conversation,” said Mr Pandjaitan. Yulia Tomskaya, the chief of protocol in Moscow’s Indonesian embassy, also said President Putin’s programme was still being worked out and “he could participate virtually”.
A host of world leaders, including US president Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping, are due to attend the biggest of the three summits being held in southeast Asia this week and next. It would have put the Russian leader in confrontation with Western leaders who have called out his invasion of Ukraine. Mr Biden, who called Putin a “war criminal”, had previously said that he had no intention of meeting the Russian president at the summit if he attended.
It is the second time in a row that the Russian president is missing the G20 annual summit. Mr Putin did not attend the summit in Italy last year due to the Covid crisis. It also comes as Downing Street said British prime minister Rishi Sunak would use the upcoming summit to “confront” Putin about the war in Ukraine. The PM’s spokesperson said that Mr Sunak believed
that “it would be right that collectively with our allies we confront any Russian official” who would attend the summit.
Mr Putin‘s decision to withdraw comes as Russia’s forces in Ukraine suffer significant failures. On Tuesday, Russia’s military said it will withdraw from Kherson, which is the only Ukrainian regional capital it captured and a gateway to the Russianoccupied Crimean Peninsula.
The withdrawal from Kherson and potential stalemate in fighting over the winter is expected to provide both countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, army general Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday.
Mr Lavrov walked out of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali in July after officials criticised Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in their speeches. He said Russia will “not chase after the US for talks” after Antony Blinken snubbed the Kremlin’s top diplomat at the summit.
He remained absent from the addresses of German and Ukrainian diplomats, and walked out of events after hearing jeers of “when will you stop the war?” and “why don’t you stop the war?” from the media.
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