United States invites Putin to G20 summit, but Trump doubts he will come

(Patria) - The United States will invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami, a US official said, but President Donald Trump expressed doubt that his counterpart would attend, AFP reports.
The invitation would mark a significant reduction in international pressure on Putin, whom most of the West, but not Trump, has avoided since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The United States is this year's host of the Group of 20 major economies, and Trump has promised a grand summit in December in his new home state of Florida.

"All G20 members will be invited to attend ministerial meetings and the leaders' summit," a senior Trump administration official said in a statement.
Trump, later questioned by a journalist, appeared unaware of any invitation. "I don't know if he's coming. I doubt he would come, to be honest with you," Trump said.

Trump said he supports including Putin, explaining: "If he came, it would probably be very useful."

He repeated criticisms of former President Barack Obama for expelling Russia from the then-G8, conceived as a club of wealthy democracies, in response to an earlier, more limited invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

"President Putin was very offended by that. Rightly so," Trump said.
Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska in August, the first time the Russian leader set foot on Western soil since the invasion. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has sought to revive long-frozen relations with Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Initially promising to end the war in 24 hours, Trump's attempts have yielded few tangible results, even after Moscow and Kyiv met multiple times for talks. Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to cede territory to Russia.

The Kremlin earlier that day said Putin had not yet decided whether to attend.

"Such decisions have not yet been made," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.

Russia has been invited at the "highest level" to the summit in Miami on December 14 and 15, state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 for war crimes, leading the Russian leader to avoid travel to countries that would theoretically be obliged to arrest him.

The United States is not a member of the ICC, which Trump actively opposed.
Putin has not participated in a G20 summit since 2019, first due to the coronavirus pandemic and then due to the war.