Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the G20 Leader’s Summit in 2022, which was held in Bali, Indonesia. Now, there are questions again about whether Putin will be present at this year’s G20 Summit, hosted by India.
Quoted from the Daily Hunt website on Monday, July 24, 2023, India has sent invitations to all G20 members, both invited countries and international organizations, for the September 2023 summit.
Responding to whether Russia has confirmed the participation of President Vladimir Putin in the G20 Summit, the official spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, said that he could not provide a response regarding this matter.
“At this point, what I can reiterate is what we have said before, that invitations have been extended to all G20 members as well as the invited countries. This is a physically attended summit, and we hope all invitees can participate in person,” said Arindam Bagchi.
“There is confirmation that I understand, but again, I don’t have specific responses regarding particular leaders, yes or no. However, we are looking forward to welcoming world leaders at the G20 Summit in September,” he added.
Putin Skipped the BRICS Summit
Earlier, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced that Putin would not attend the BRICS countries’ summit.
This will be the first summit to be held in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BRICS Summit will be attended by leaders of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa.
Instead, Putin will deliver his speech at the summit via a video conference, as stated by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov to the Russian news agency TASS.
Peskov also confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia directly at the summit.
In March 2023, Lavrov participated in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Goa, since India took over the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022.
The G20 Summit 2023 will take place on September 9-10
The 18th G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9-10.
The meeting will be the culmination of all G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year between ministers, senior officials, and civil society.
The G20 Leaders’ Declaration will be adopted at the end of the New Delhi Summit, which will state the world leaders’ commitments to the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the ministerial and working group meetings, according to the official G20 statement.
