Host “put this aside”
Putin not allowed to attend G20 summit in person

07/01/2022, 11:25 a.m. (updated)

Russian President Putin has agreed to attend the G20 summit in November. According to Italian Prime Minister Draghi, host Indonesia “firmly” ruled out the possibility that he would appear there in person. Meanwhile, Chancellor Scholz announced that he would take part in the round with his G7 counterparts.

According to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Indonesia in person to attend the G20 summit in the fall. Indonesian President Joko Widodo as the host of the G20 meeting said this clearly, Draghi reported after the G7 summit in Bavaria, which Widodo attended as a guest for a while. “Widodo excludes this and is categorical there. He (Putin) will not come.” It is not clear if the Kremlin leader wants to take part in the G20 summit via video link. “We’ll see what happens,” Draghi said.

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said: “Well, it’s definitely not Draghi. The invitation came and we responded positively.” On Monday, Ushakov said Putin wanted to take part in the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali in mid-November – but left it open in what format. Indonesian President Widodo confirmed Putin’s participation in late April. It is therefore currently unclear how western countries will react to this.

In any case, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke in favor of the format of the G20 round of leading economic powers, even though Putin was also a member of the round. “As far as the G20 is concerned, there is a big agreement in all the talks that we don’t want to separate the G20,” the Chancellor said at the end of the three-day G7 meeting. That’s why, as of today, the decision of the states gathered in Elmau is “that they go there,” explains Scholz.

The SPD politician stressed that the discussion was good. Talks with invited partners to the G7 summit, namely India, Indonesia, Argentina, Senegal and South Africa, are also very important. Indonesia currently holds the G20 presidency, followed by India next year – “the big two, important friends and countries with whom we work together,” said the Chancellor. “That’s why it’s important for us to give a good push,” he added. “And then we’ll take care of it.”

The G20 is a group of leading economic powers, which in addition to the G7 countries, also includes authoritarian countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Meetings are scheduled for November 16 and 17 in Bali.

(This article first appeared on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.)