India has said it “hopes” all G20 leaders, including Vladimir Putin, are able to attend this year’s summit in person amid increasing questions over the Russian leader’s participation.
India, which walks a tightrope between placating the West and maintaining decades-old ties with Russia, is hosting this year’s G20 summit. It has sought the physical participation of leaders, with the awkward possibility emerging that if Mr Putin were to attend, he would be in the same room with Western leaders for the first time since he called for the invasion of Ukraine.
India’s foreign ministry said the G20, to be held on 9-10 September, will take the form of a physical summit in Delhi.
Signals to Mr Putin’s potential India visit will be closely watched as the Russian leader has continued to avoid many such meetings since the Ukraine war.
His attendance would become a significant occasion, as it would be the first time since Russia’s war that he would be face to face with world leaders like Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and others who have condemned the invasion.
“The invitations have gone out to all the G20 members, invitee countries and international organizations,” foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
“This is a physical summit and we would hope that all the invitees are able to participate in person.”
He said there have been confirmations for the summit, but did not share specifics on any world leaders.
India becoming the G20 host has given rise to speculation that Mr Putin could travel there because of Moscow’s longstanding ties with Delhi. He had skipped the summit last year when it was hosted by Indonesia.
The Kremlin had earlier cleared up Mr Putin’s schedule at the same time as the G20 summit in September to allow the possibility of him flying to India by cancelling a scheduled event.
In March, Mr Putin’s aides reportedly pushed the dates by a week for an annual economic forum in Vladivostok, from its earlier 9-10 September date.
Russia’s deputy chief of mission Roman Babuskin had earlier told The Hindu newspaper that G20 is “one of the most important events” for Russia.
The speculation comes after it emerged that Mr Putin will not attend the Brics summit in South Africa to be held in late August and will send his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov instead.
The decision, however, was made because South Africa is a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and if Mr Putin steps on South African soil, there is a chance he could be arrested.
The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for him in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia..
Russian state media said Mr Putin will instead dial in via video link, while Mr Lavrov will fly down to Johannesburg.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said the decision was “by mutual agreement” as any attempts to arrest Mr Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia.
Meanwhile, India last month confirmed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend the main G20 conference as invites for the summit this year were sent only to members.
“G20 participation is for members of G20,” foreign minister S Jaishankar had said at a press conference marking nine years of the foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government.
“And for countries and organisations who we have invited and that list we had declared as soon as we assumed presidency of the G20.”
The G20 ministerial meetings held this year in India have revealed the country’s reluctance in referring to the Ukraine invasion. Under the Indian presidency, no clear, joint communiques for the G20 meetings have been issued as officials disagreed in calling the invasion a “war”.
In the absence of a joint communique, the G20 chair has been publishing a “chair’s summary” as the main outcome document.
On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry said it has “optimism” that G20 leaders would be able to agree to a joint communique at the upcoming meeting.
“There have been differences in paragraphs related to Ukraine. But largely, there has been a high degree of convergence among the participants on other issues and that’s a very positive thing,” Mr Bagchi stated.
