The Washington Post disclosed Tuesday that the U.S. intends to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami in December. “No formal invitation has been issued, but Russia, as a member of the G20, will be invited to attend ministerial meetings and leaders’ meetings,” said a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that day, it could be a“Good” thing if Putin comes. The Russian leader last attended a G20 summit in 2019. According to a report by Russia’s TASS News Agency, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov said on the 24th that Putin may or may not travel to Miami for the conference. In any case, Russia will send representatives of the appropriate level.
Trump intends to invite Putin to this year’s G20 leaders’ summit in the US, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. (screenshot from Washington Post website)
Trump ‘has made it clear he welcomes Russia to all G20 meetings’
According to the Washington Post on the 23rd, the State Department said in a statement, president Trump“Has made clear that Russia is welcome to attend all G20 meetings, and the United States is committed to a successful and productive summit.”. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on the 23rd that he did not know about the invitation to Putin, but had no objection to it. “I think we should talk to everyone,” he said. However, he was skeptical that Putin would accept the invitation.
Comprehensive RIA Novosti, TASS news agency reported that Peskov 23, said the Russian side will be close to the G20 summit to finalize the form of participation. He stressed that the Russian side to the“Appropriate level” to participate in all previous summits. On the 24th, Peskov said once again on related issues, Russia attaches great importance to the work within the framework of the G20, especially in view of the current crisis is deepening and emerging.
On social media platforms, foreign netizens expressed different views on the Washington Post’s report. Some objected to the U.S. invitation to Putin to attend the G20 summit. “Russia is an important country, whether you like it or not,” says one. Responsible for foreign investment and economic cooperation of the Russian President’s Special Representative Dmitriev 24, stressed on the X platform, “Russia has been a member of the G20.”.
Putin’s last visit to the G20 summit was in 2019, when he held talks with Trump, Russian media including business consulting daily reported Wednesday. In 2020 and 2021, Putin attended the G20 summits online due to the covid-19 pandemic. After the outbreak of the Russia-ukraine conflict in 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov or deputy chief of staff of the Russian President Oleshkin led a delegation to attend the meeting.
Agence france-presse commented that the U. S. invitation marks Putin“Facing a significant reduction in international pressure.”. Most Western leaders have avoided Putin in recent years, with the exception of Trump, the report said. Since returning to the White House last year, he has been trying to revive long-frozen ties with Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine. Last August, Trump hosted Putin in Alaska, his first visit to the west since the Russia-ukraine conflict began. But so far, U.S. efforts to end the conflict have yielded few concrete results.
Russia analyst: not a ‘thaw’ in us-russia relations
Russian public opinion has made various interpretations of the news that the United States plans to invite Putin to attend the G20 summit. On the 23rd, the website of the Russian“Komsomolskaya” quoted bordachev, project director of the Valdai International Debate Club, as saying that it would be advantageous for Russia to be invited to attend the meeting, it is an opportunity for dialogue with friendly governments and geopolitical rivals. The US may see the invitation as preferable to a confrontational approach, albeit one that would be partly unpalatable to Europe. In Bordachev’s view, Russia could benefit from sending a high-level delegation to the meeting, but that does not mean Putin has to go in person.
Russian political analyst Popov believes that the U. S. intends to invite Putin to attend the G20 summit does not mean that Russian-u. S. relations“Thaw”, is not necessarily a“Goodwill gesture. The west may see this as a“Deterrent”, in which Russian behaviour is discussed and assessed multilaterally in front of all G20 members, allowing the west to exert collective pressure on Russia in one way or another.
The Russian“Absatz” News Network quoted Popov as saying that who will ultimately represent Russia at the summit and on what basis the russian- dialogue will be conducted at that time all depend on the development trend of international relations before December this year, the decisive factor will undoubtedly be the direction of the Russia-ukraine conflict. Now, it’s not clear whether Putin will come to the U.S. , which could actually be a hint that if the U.S. wants to see its highest-level representative, it needs to do it the way Moscow wants.
Russia’s“News. RU” news network, “Imperial City” TV website and other media reported that 23, russia-us bilateral relations, the prospects are still unclear. Russian Foreign Ministry Foreign Policy Planning Department director-general Drobinen said recently that the normalization of russian-n relations“Is still very far away.”. Russia is seen as a“Continuing threat” in the US National Security Strategy. Drobinen said the United States is in no hurry to lift anti-russian sanctions, but to seek“Absolute security,” which is a serious destabilizing factor. It would be a step in the right direction for the US to abandon its view of Russia as a military rival and an existential threat.
There may be a political game between the United States and Europe
U. S. Media disclosed that the White House intends to invite Putin to attend the G20 summit the same day the EU formally approved a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, and passed the 20th round of sanctions against Russia. The US and the EU have been at loggerheads over aid to Ukraine and attitudes towards Russia over the past year. According to the Financial Times reported on the 24th, Polish prime minister tusk also questioned the same day, if the Russian attack, the United States will be“Loyal” to NATO’s commitment to defend Europe. He said it was the“Biggest and most important issue” facing Europe. Tusk warned that Russia could attack a NATO member“Within months”.
In the view of Russian analysts, inviting Putin to the G20 could drive another wedge in US-EU relations. Bordachev said that if the Russian side eventually participated in the meeting, the European side may send a representative to make a strong statement against this.
According to Russian satellite news agency reported on the 23rd, Russian political scientist Sergiyenko that the U. S. invitation may be behind the U. s.-european political game on the issue of Russia. The invitation from the White House was meant to get the Russians to consider what form to take, and it is Europe that should really be considering how to respond to the US move, which is where European leaders are likely to be divided. The French may see this as an opportunity to talk to the Russians, while the Germans may have reservations. Sergienko said the U.S. probably does believe it can not build a future without Russia.