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Vladimir Putin has ‘no plans’ to attend G20 Summit, says Russia ahead of India event
Putin will not attend G20 summit event in India. Putin risks arrest when travelling abroad under the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not personally attend the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi on September 9-10, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday. "No, the president has no such plans,” the official Tass news agency quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying. In the just-concluded Brics too, Putin was absent. He was represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The format of Putin’s participation would be determined later, Peskov said.
President Putin decided against attending the first in-person BRICS summit after Covid-19 as the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March over an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.
South Africa is an ICC signatory and was expected to help in Putin's arrest if he was present in the country.
Bloomberg quoted Interfax news service that Kremlin said Putin has a busy schedule. "Putin has a “busy schedule,” and his main focus at the moment is prosecuting Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, according to the Interfax news service," Bloomberg reported.
Putin has rarely left Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that sparked a wave of international condemnation and unprecedented sanctions by the US and its allies. He also skipped last year’s G-20 summit in Indonesia.
(With inputs from agencies)
