Vladimir Putin to attend G20 summit in India? Can't be ruled out, says Moscow

Russian president Vladimir Putin may attend the G20 summit in India later this year; however, no decision has yet been made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Monday (13).

"It cannot be ruled out," the Kremlin spokesman said when asked if Putin's participation in the summit in India was being considered.

"But no decision has been made yet," Peskov clarified, Russian news agency TASS reported. The G20 summit is scheduled to take place in India in September.

India is currently holding the presidency of the G20 bloc which it took over on December 1 last year.

"Russia continues its full participation in the G20 format, we intend to continue it," Peskov said.

He further said that the Group of Seven (G7) format does not reflect the global economy as a whole, which is why Moscow focuses on the G20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), Peskov told the reporters.

Asked to comment on western analysts' report saying that the share of BRICS nations in the global GDP has surpassed that of G7 countries, the Russian official said, "Irrespective of the findings by these experts, it is safe to say that the economic clout of BRICS countries in the global economy is constantly growing.

Russia believes that the G7 format "obviously" fails to reflect the economic wants and needs of the planet because the global economy is far from being limited to G7 nations.

"The broader grouping, the G20, far more closely reflects the real state of affairs, which is what we are concerned with," Peskov added.

The G7 is an integration of developed countries, which consists of the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France, and Japan. It mainly focuses on searching for solutions to global political and social problems. The organization existed in a seven-member format from 1976-1997.

After Russia joined the organisation, it was called the G8.

In March 2014, as a result of the events in Ukraine and the ensuing crisis in relations between Moscow and the West, the organisation decided to return to the G7 format.

Last year, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov headed the Russian delegation at the G20 leaders' forum.

In 2020 and 2021, Putin took part in the G20 summits via video link, and in 2019 he came to the meeting of heads of state, which was held in Japan.

(ANI)