Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to attend a G20 summit in Indonesia later this year, Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia said on Wednesday, dismissing suggestions by some G20 members that Russia could be barred from the group.
The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters.
But any bid to exclude Russia would likely be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings, the sources said.
Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, which currently holds the rotating G20 chair, said Putin intended to travel to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for the G20 summit in November.
Asked about suggestions Russia could be excluded from the G20, she said it was a forum to discuss economic issues and not a crisis like Ukraine.
Russia launched its invasion of its southern neighbour on Feb. 24 but Zelensky says any compromises with Russia will require referendum
Putin says Russia is carrying out “a special military operation” to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide – an accusation the West calls a baseless fabrication.
Russia is facing an onslaught of international sanctions led by Western countries aiming at isolating it from the global economy, including shutting it out of the SWIFT global bank messaging system and restricting dealings by its central bank.
On Tuesday, Poland said it had suggested to U.S. commerce officials that it replace Russia within the G20 group and that the suggestion had received a “positive response”.
