Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refused to attend the in-person meeting of G20 leaders in India in September, will attend the virtual G20 summit scheduled for Wednesday, Russian state television reported this Sunday.
“Vladimir Putin will take part in the virtual G20 summit,” Vesti TV said in a statement outlining the Russian president’s agenda for this week, without specifying in what format the Russian leader will take part in the meeting.
In September, for the second year in a row, Vladimir Putin did not accept an invitation to physically represent Russia at the G20 summit after being removed from the international stage following his army’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
While the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which accuses him of war crimes for the deportation of Ukrainian children – which Moscow denies – the Russian head of state also allowed his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to represent him at the BRICS (group of developing countries) summit in South Africa in August last year.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has rarely traveled abroad, as he did in October in China, where he held talks with President Xi Jinping, his ally in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. they both call American hegemony.
Russia and China did not sign the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court. Since they are not member states, Putin is not subject to arrest warrants in these territories. The United States withdrew from the organization during the George W. Bush administration, faced with the prospect of invading Iraq. South Africa, like India, is one of 123 countries that have ratified or acceded to the International Criminal Court since its establishment in 1998.
In early October, the Russian President said that he would not physically participate in international summits so as not to “create problems” for the organizers.
India, which will host a virtual G20 summit on Wednesday, will hold the G20 presidency until the end of November.
New Delhi has close historical ties to Moscow, and Russia remains India’s largest arms supplier.
The G20 consists of 19 countries and the European Union, which together account for about 85% of global GDP.