(April 24): US President Donald Trump said he didn’t expect Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 (G20) meeting at his resort in Doral, Florida, later this year, but said the Russian leader’s participation could be useful.
Earlier on Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Russia would be invited to attend ministerial meetings and the leaders’ summit. Russia has skipped in-person attendance at the annual conference since 2019, due to the coronavirus pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he wasn’t aware of the plans, though expressed scepticism that Putin would actually show up.
“I don’t know of the invitation, but if he were invited, I’m of the opinion that you talk to everybody,” Trump said, adding that “if he came, it would probably be very helpful.”
Trump has been attempting to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv since returning to office, but has admitted that striking an agreement has proved much more difficult than he anticipated.
Putin may or may not go to the G20 summit, but Russia will be well-represented there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to the Interfax news service.
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The US president has previously said he plans to invite Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the summit, as he seeks to strengthen US ties to central Asia. He’s also said he would not extend an invite to South Africa, which hosted last year’s summit, over the treatment of White Afrikaners. South Africa’s government has dismissed Trump’s complaints as baseless.
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