Putin Will Not Attend G20 Summit in India, Kremlin Says

The Russian president did not attend the just-concluded BRICS Summit in South Africa and instead delivered a video message.

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 in person, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday.

The format of Putin’s participation would be determined later, Peskov said.

The Russian president did not attend the just-concluded BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa and instead delivered a video message. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov attended the summit in person.

Putin did not attend the summit because he risks arrest when abroad because of a warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The international tribunal has accused him of war crimes in Ukraine, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. South Africa is a signatory of the ICC and would have been obligated to arrest Putin if he was in the country.

India, however, is not a member state of the ICC.