Vladimir Putin will not attend G20 summit in person; China’s Xi Jinping is attending the summit and meet Joe Biden

Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t attend in person a G20 summit of leaders from the Group of 20 countries in Bali next week, the Russian embassy in Indonesia told on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin will be represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Yulia Tomskaya, the chief of protocol at the embassy.

Tomskaya added that Vladimir Putin is as yet deciding if he will go along with one of the meetings virtually.

G20 summit 2022

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, likewise said that Vladimir Putin wouldn’t join in. Pandjaitan, who is assisting with coordinate the G20 summit, said the Russian President would be represented by “senior officials.”

Vladimir Putin’s decision not to attend the G20 summit in person saves him the embarrassment of being stood up to – or disregarded – by other world leaders over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The meeting will happen only days after the Kremlin declared Russian forces would withdraw from a huge swathe of Kherson – one of four Ukrainian regions Putin previously said Russia wanted to annex in violation of international law.

Ahead of the lead up to the event, Western nations and Ukraine have constrained Indonesia, the G20 host, to move forward its condemnation of Moscow and withdraw its invitation to Putin for the summit. Since attacking Ukraine in late February, western democracies have treated Russia and Putin as a pariah on the world stage.

Chinese and Russian presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will attend November’s G20 summit in Bali

US President Joe Biden, who is attending the G20 summit, said in March Russia ought to be ejected from the G20, a multilateral association contained 19 of the world’s significant economies and the European Union. Senior members of Biden’s administration have left G20 events where Russian agents are available.

When inquired as to whether he would meet Vladimir Putin one-on-one in Bali during an exclusive interview last month, Joe Biden said he didn’t see a valid justification to do so however it would “depend on specifically what he wanted to talk about.” Biden said if Putin wanted to discuss the jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner then he would open to talk.

Jakarta has opposed strain to single out Russia and has tried to stay a neutral position. It has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the summit as a guest.

Zelensky has said that Ukraine wouldn’t partake in the G20 summit if Vladimir Putin attends. The Ukrainian President is supposed to join the meetings virtually.

China’s leader is attending

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who met Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan in September, is additionally expected to attend the G20 summit and meet Joe Biden for the first time since the American President took office almost two years ago.

Beijing has not officially affirmed whether Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit or meet with Biden. Yet, on Wednesday, Biden told a news conference at the White House following the midterm elections that he will have chats with Xi in Bali.

Joe Biden said he’s not intending to make any “fundamental concessions” and that they will examine the economy and trade. But, he declined to uncover what his message would be on US military support to Taiwan should China continue on the self-governing island.

“I’m gonna have that conversation with him,” Joe Biden added, noting that they’ll lay out “what each of our red lines are.”

Their much-anticipated meeting comes as relations between US and China hit their lowest point in decades in a downward spiral that began under the former presidency of Donald Trump, as the two nations increase their competition in trade, technology, geopolitics and ideology.

In recent months, strains have reached new highs following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and the Joe Biden administration’s restriction on the sale of advanced chips and chip-production equipment to China.

In the interim, under Xi Jinping, China has moved nearer to Russia, joined by their falling relations with the US and other Western nations. Weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin pronounced their nations share a “no-limits” friendship. Beijing has since wouldn’t censure the conflict in Ukraine, or allude to it as an “invasion.”

After G20, Xi Jinping will go to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) G20 summit in Bangkok, which starts off next Friday, as per Thailand’s Foreign Ministry. Joe Biden isn’t expected to attend the event, while Vladimir Putin still can’t seem to affirm his participation.