Russia’s President Putin has agreed to attend the G20 summit in November. According to Italy’s Prime Minister Draghi, host Indonesia “categorically” rules out the possibility that he will appear there in person. Chancellor Scholz meanwhile announced that he would take part in the round with his G7 colleagues.
According to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be traveling to Indonesia in person for the G20 summit in the fall. The Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as the host of the G20 meeting, said that clearly, Draghi reported after the G7 summit in Bavaria, which Widodo attended as a guest for a time. “Widodo excludes this and was categorical there. He (Putin) will not come.” It is unclear whether the Kremlin chief wants to take part in the G20 summit via video link. “We’ll see what will happen,” said Draghi. The meeting is scheduled for November 16th and 17th in Bali.
According to the state news agency TASS, Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Putin wanted to take part in the summit in mid-November on the Indonesian island of Bali. Indonesian President Widodo confirmed Putin’s participation at the end of April. It was therefore recently unclear how the western countries would react to this.
In any case, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out in favor of sticking to the format of the G20 round of leading economic powers, although Putin is also a member of the round. “As far as the G20 is concerned, there was great agreement in all talks that we do not want to drive the G20 apart,” said the Chancellor at the end of the three-day G7 summit. That’s why, as of today, the decision of the states gathered in Elmau was “that they go there,” explained Scholz.
The SPD politician emphasized that it was about good discussions. The talks with the partners invited to the G7 summit, namely India, Indonesia, Argentina, Senegal and South Africa, were also very important. Indonesia currently holds the G20 presidency, followed by India next year – “two great, important friends and nations with whom we work closely,” said the Chancellor. “That’s why it’s also important to us that we give the thing a good drive,” he added. “And then we’ll take care of that.” The G20 is a group of states of leading economic powers, which, in addition to the G7 states, also includes authoritarian countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.
