The Russian leader will travel to Indonesia for the meeting, despite Western leaders calling for Moscow’s expulsion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit in Indonesia this November, the Kremlin announced on Monday. While multiple Western leaders have demanded Russia’s expulsion from the event, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who is hosting this year’s gathering, has invited Putin to the meeting in Bali.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced Putin’s attendance, but told reporters that it is still unclear in what capacity the Russian leader will participate. “I hope that the pandemic will allow this important forum to be held in person, but I cannot guess,” Ushakov said.
The G20 summit brings together leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, with representatives of the European Union also attending alongside European heads of state, and several international organizations, including the United Nations and World Health Organization, given guest invites every year.
US President Joe Biden called on Widodo, in March, to exclude Putin from this year’s meeting, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that “it can’t be business as usual to have Vladimir Putin sitting around the table pretending that everything is OK. Because it’s not OK and it’s his fault.”
However, Widodo did not cave in to the pressure campaign and invited Putin as planned. The Indonesian leader has also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to travel to Bali in November.
