Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend in person a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in Bali next week, the Russian embassy in Indonesia told CNN on Thursday.
Putin will be represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Yulia Tomskaya, the chief of protocol at the embassy.
Tomskaya added that Putin is still deciding if he will join one of the meetings virtually.
Putin’s decision not to attend the G20 summit in person saves him the embarrassment of being confronted – or shunned – by other world leaders over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the lead up to the event, Western countries and Ukraine have pressured Indonesia, the G20 host, to step up its condemnation of Moscow and withdraw its invitation to Putin for the summit.
US President Joe Biden, who is attending the summit, said in March Russia should be ejected from the G20. Senior members of his administration have walked out of G20 events where Russian delegates are present.
But Jakarta has resisted the pressure and has sought to remain a neutral position. It has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the summit as a guest.
Zelensky has said that Ukraine would not take part in the G20 summit if Putin attends. He is expected to join the meetings virtually.
China’s leader is attending
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who met Putin in Uzbekistan in September, is also expected to attend the summit and meet Biden for the first time since the American President took office nearly two years ago.
Beijing has not officially confirmed whether Xi will attend the summit or meet with Biden. But on Wednesday, Biden told a news conference at the White House following the midterm elections that he will be having talks with Xi in Bali.
Biden said he’s not planning to make any “fundamental concessions” and that they will discuss the economy and trade. But he declined to reveal what his message would be on US military support to Taiwan should China move on the self-governing island.
“I’m gonna have that conversation with him,” Biden added, noting that they’ll lay out “what each of our red lines are.”
Their much-anticipated meeting comes as relations between US and China hit their lowest point in decades in a downward spiral that started under the former presidency of Donald Trump, as the two countries ramp up their rivalry in trade, technology, geopolitics and ideology.
In recent months, tensions have reached new highs following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and the Biden administration’s ban on the sale of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to China.
Meanwhile, under Xi, China has moved closer to Russian, united by their plummeting relations with the US and other Western countries. Weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Xi and Putin declared their countries share a “no-limits” friendship. Beijing has since refused to condemned the war in Ukraine, or referred to it as an “invasion.”
After G20, Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, which kicks off next Friday, according to Thailand’s Foreign Ministry. Biden is not expected to attend the event, while Putin has yet to confirm his attendance. (IANS)
