Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, won’t be physically present at the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, next week, his press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Thursday.
The Russian team will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the two-day meeting, the official announced.
Russian and international media agencies received the same information from the Embassy of Russia in Jakarta, and Reuters cited an Indonesian government official in its article. Putin could use a video link to attend the ceremony, according to both sources.
The US and its allies had exerted pressure on the host country to forbid Putin from attending the summit, arguing that Russia should be diplomatically isolated as retaliation for deploying soldiers into Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, together with representatives from the UK and Canada, walked out of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in April, in protest against a speech of Russian delegates.
Jakarta did not yield and sent an invitation to Putin just like any other leader of G20 nations.
The US President Joe Biden may have met Putin on the margins of the event, according to certain Western media reports, but the White House finally ruled this out.
If Putin were to attend the G20 conference in person, the Biden administration reportedly thought about ways to avoid even a passing interaction between them.
Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is anticipated to take part digitally as well. He would only participate if Putin refrained from visiting Bali.
