RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin will attend the extraordinary virtual G20 leaders' summit hosted by India on Wednesday (22), the Kremlin said on Tuesday (21).
Putin, 71, did not attend the G20 summit in person in New Delhi in September and was represented by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
"On November 22, 2023, Russian president Vladimir Putin will take part in an extraordinary summit of the Group of 20 (via video link)," state-run TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.
Ahead of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, the Kremlin said that the Russian president had to focus on the "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Putin had also skipped the Bali summit of the G20 in November last year as well. He did not take part in the BRICS summit in South Africa in August this year as his travel was complicated by an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court arrest for him earlier in 2023 over the abduction of children from Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin press service, the parties are expected "to sum up the results of India's G20 presidency, discuss the situation in the global economy and finances, the climate agenda, digitalisation issues and other topics."
China's foreign ministry has announced that Premier Li Qiang will attend the summit virtually. Chinese president Xi Jinping did not attend the New Delhi G20 summit.
During the closing session of the New Delhi G20 summit on September 10, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced that India would be hosting a virtual G20 leaders' summit prior to the conclusion of India's G20 presidency on November 30.
India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Tuesday described the virtual summit as "rare and exceptional" which would give Prime Minister Modi an opportunity to interact with world leaders for a second time during India's G20 presidency before it passes on to Brazil in December.
(With PTI inputs)
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