Russian President Putin may attend G20 summit in India after missing it for 2 years as Kremlin clears schedule
In order to allow Vladimir Putin to attend the summit after missing the last two, the Kremlin is adjusting his itinerary around this year’s G20 conference in India in September, according to people familiar with the planning.
As efforts by the US and its allies to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine stall in the face of reluctance among other countries to join, Kremlin defiance is increasing. The Kremlin is currently considering having him attend the summit, but no decision has been taken, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not yet been made public.
It was decided this week to move the dates of a yearly economic forum in Vladivostok, which had been scheduled for the night before the summit on September 9-10, to a week later in order to give Putin more leeway and to allow for the possibility that senior officials from China and India might attend the forum.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, declined to comment.
Putin officially accepted the invite from India to the G20 conference. Nevertheless, due to pressure from the US and its allies regarding the conflict, Putin withdrew his invitation to the conference in Indonesia and sent Sergei Lavrov in his place.
Also, Putin snubbed the G20 summit held in Rome a year earlier as he prepared to invade Ukraine.
The Kremlin has, however, felt a little less alone in the group since November. Russia and China rejected language on the conflict that had been agreed upon at the leaders’ summit in Indonesia less than six months prior at the G20 foreign ministers conference in New Delhi in early March.
They banded together to prevent the host nation, India, from reaching a compromise.
According to a person familiar with Kremlin thinking, Moscow has stiffened its attitude since the fall after the US and its partners agreed to increase arms deliveries to Ukraine early this year.
