-c439b7bd9030ecf9d5a4287dc361ba31.jpg "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
Donald Trump stated that he has not invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit, which is scheduled for December at his Doral golf club in Miami.
Speaking with journalists at the White House on April 23, Trump addressed reports regarding the invitation after the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed one had already been received, according to The Moscow Times on April 24.
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The Washington Post previously reported that the administration intended to invite Putin to the Miami summit. When asked for clarification, Trump said, “No, but if he came, it would probably be very useful.” The US president also noted that he “doesn’t know if Putin will come” and “doubts that he will come.” Additionally, Trump emphasized that he “holds the opinion that one needs to talk to everyone.”
Sources suggest that no official invitation has been sent to Putin yet, though Trump has indicated that Russia's presence at the event is welcome. A White House official said that while official invitations have not been issued at this stage, Russia is a member of the G20 and will be invited to the ministerial meetings and the leaders' summit.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told RIA Novosti that the Russian president had already been invited to the G20 summit. He stated, “There is an invitation to be present at the highest level, but we will see closer to the date. God knows what will happen before then.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that “Russia participated in all G20 summits at the appropriate level,” adding that “the decision on the format of our participation will be made closer to the summit.”
During the 2025 meeting of G20 leaders in South Africa, Putin sent the deputy head of his administration, Maxim Oreshkin, in his place. The Russian leader last attended a G20 summit in person in 2019.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has sent Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the event three times. This decision followed the 2023 move by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for the president on charges of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia, which is classified as a war crime.
In 2025, a Russian delegation arrived in Washington for the first meeting of G20 sherpas under the United States’ chairmanship, marking Moscow’s return to the forum after a prolonged period of diplomatic isolation.
The delegation was led by Svetlana Lukash, Russia’s senior G20 coordinator, and included representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and the presidential administration.
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