Kremlin says Putin won’t travel to India for G20 summit
Moscow, Aug 25 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to attend the G20 summit in India next month, the Kremlin said on Friday.
“No, the president has no such plans,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a virtual press conference.
Pesko said the Kremlin would decide later the format of Putin’s participation in the summit in the Indian capital on Sep.9 and 10.
Peskov insisted that the Russian president’s trip to New Delhi was not on the agenda, suggesting that he could participate in the summit electronically as he did for the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg earlier this week.
“He (Putin) really has a busy schedule. And, of course, the main focus is still the special military operation. So direct travel is not on the agenda right now,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
It would be the second time in a row that Putin will miss the G20 summit.
He skipped last year’s summit in the Indonesian resort of Bali, where Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov represented Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
India announced that it had not invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the G20 summit.
Last year, Zelenskyy sent a video message to the leaders of 20 emerging economies in Bali.
He called it the “G19” because of Russia’s absence. EFE
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