Russia confirms that Putin will not attend the G20 summit

MADRID, 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend next week's G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, people familiar with the trip planning have confirmed.

Instead of Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Investments of the organizing country.

"The Russian Foreign Minister will come in person," said Jodi Mahardi, spokesperson for the ministerial portfolio, according to the DPA agency.

The objective of avoiding the trip of the Russian president by the Kremlin is to protect Putin from possible high-level tensions due to the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden said in March that Moscow should not participate in this group, in retaliation for the invasion "which triggered Europe's biggest conflict since World War II" and which "raised fears of a nuclear escalation".

Despite this request, his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, refused to withdraw Putin's invitation due to the neutrality policies of his country, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20.

Widodo, this same Monday, acknowledged for the first time that he did not believe that the Russian leader's assistance would be possible, as he admitted in an interview with the 'Financial Times' newspaper.

The Indonesian president spoke last week by phone with Putin, in a round of contacts that also included the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky. The latter will probably attend the summit by videoconference, presidential spokesman Sergei Nikiforov told Ukrainian television on Tuesday.