In order to avoid a potential confrontation with the United States and its allies over his conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia next week, a government official in Indonesia said on Thursday. The two-day Bali conference, which begins on November 15, will feature participation from international leaders including US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and others. Biden and Putin were scheduled to meet at the summit for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, will head the trip, according to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G-20 activities, who made the announcement to media in Denpasar, Indonesia. Pandjaitan, who is also the Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment, stated: “The Indonesian government respects the decision of the Russian government, which President Putin himself previously explained to President Joko Widodo in a very friendly telephone conversation.”
BIDEN RULES OUT MEETING
If he had attended the summit, Biden had stated he would not meet with Putin and that the only talk he may have had with the Russian president would be to pursue an agreement to release American prisoners there. Officials from the Biden administration said they had been working with international partners to isolate Putin if he had chosen to attend either physically or online. They have spoken of boycotts and other forms of opposition.