(PresidentialHill.com)- Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is officially out for the G-20 summit, which will be held in Indonesia next week.
Bloomberg was one of the media outlets to report this revelation. They cited sources who said that Putin is deciding not to attend the summit so that he doesn’t have to be in an uncomfortable position with other Western leaders, as he continues to push forward with his country’s war with Ukraine.
The sources cited by Bloomberg say that the Kremlin wants to protect its leader from having to face tensions that could be high-level over his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. They don’t want Putin to be in any situation where he has to either be in the presence of or talk with President Joe Biden.
Awkward meetings between world leaders who are at odds with each other wouldn’t be particularly unique, of course. But, in this time when most western leaders — and even some from the east — aren’t happy with Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials don’t want to attract extra media attention to the conflict.
The sources told Bloomberg that Russian leaders don’t want Putin to be in a position where he’s embarrassed or called out over the war in Ukraine, and they don’t want media outlets to paint them in a negative light that could hurt his position within Russia.
The G-20 summit will be held on November 15-16 in Bali, Indonesia. It’s an opportunity for the world’s leaders to discuss any pressing global matters. While environmental and economic issues are sure to be on the agenda, so, too, is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the long-lasting impacts of it.
In Putin’s place, Russia is expected to send Sergei Lavrov, the country’s Foreign Minister, to the G-20 summit.
Even though Putin himself won’t be there, Lavrov’s presence could cause a lot of attention and disruptions, too. That’s because Lavrov has been a steadfast defender of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, and his presence there could create some tensions with other world leaders.
Government leaders in Russia haven’t commented on the G-20 situation, but the sources who spoke with Bloomberg are apparently in the know of what’s going on.
Back in March, Biden said that he believed Russia should be removed from the G-20 organization as a whole because of their invasion of Ukraine. The war has turned out to be the largest conflict in Europe since back in World War II, and there are many fears throughout the globe that it could eventually lead to nuclear escalation.
Indonesia has sought to maintain its neutral position in the conflict throughout. As such, its president, Joko Widodo, refused to withdraw his invitation to Putin for the G-20 summit.
What Widodo did do, though, is invite Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, to attend the summit as a guest, even though Ukraine isn’t a member nation of the G-20.
