Putin may attend G20 summit in India, though no decision yet: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin may attend the G20 summit in India later this year, but no decision has been made yet, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday. “It cannot be ruled out,” the Kremlin’s spokesman said when asked if Putin would attend the summit in India. But no decision has been made yet,” Peskov clarified, according to Russian news agency TASS.

The G20 summit is set to take place in September in India. When asked if Putin would attend the summit in India, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “It cannot be ruled out,” but added that no decision had been made yet.

“Russia continues its full participation in the G20 format, we intend to continue it,” Peskov pointed out.

According to Peskov, the Group of Seven (G7) format does not reflect the global economy as a whole, which is why Moscow focuses on the G20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

When asked to comment on a report by Western analysts that the BRICS nations’ share of global GDP has surpassed that of the G7, he said: “Irrespective of the findings by these experts, it is safe to say that the economic clout of BRICS countries in the global economy is constantly growing. Russia believes that the G7 format “obviously” fails to reflect the economic wants and needs of the planet because the global economy is far from being limited to G7 nations.

“The broader grouping, the G20, far more closely reflects the real state of affairs, which is what we are concerned with,” he added.

The G7 is a grouping of developed countries that includes the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France, and Japan. It primarily seeks solutions to global political and social problems. From 1976 to 1997, the organisation had a seven-member structure.

The organisation was renamed the G8 after Russia joined it. As a result of the events in Ukraine and the ensuing crisis in relations between Russia and the West, the organisation decided to return to the G7 format in March 2014.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov led the Russian delegation to the G20 leaders’ meeting last year. Putin participated in the G20 summits via video link in 2020 and 2021, and he attended the meeting of heads of state in Japan in 2019.