Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that the country will be represented at the upcoming G20 summit, although he has not clarified whether he will be the one participating in the event or will delegate it to a high-ranking official.
«We will think about how we will do it. Russia will definitely be represented there (at the G20 summit) at a high level,» Putin confirmed during his speech at a plenary meeting of the Valdai international discussion forum.
In addition, President Putin thanked the «leadership» of Indonesia, the host nation, and the invitation of its president, Joko Widodo, to participate in the meeting, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
In this way, the Russian president has confirmed first hand that the country will be represented at the next summit, scheduled for November 15-16 on the island of Bali, in the south of the Indonesian archipelago.
Previously the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had already advanced this position of Russia, pointing to the participation of the country but without specifying who the representative would be.
BIDEN WILL NOT MEET WITH PUTIN On the other hand, the communication spokesman of the US National Security Council, John Kirby, has informed that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, «does not intend» to meet with Putin during the G20 summit in case he finally attends.
«The president has said he has no intention of sitting down with Vladimir Putin, and that’s where we are,» Kirby told the media during a press conference, as reported by CNN.
Thus, the National Security spokesman explained that the U.S. president «will focus» on strengthening his «alliances and partnerships» during the summit.
At the beginning of October, Biden himself also acknowledged before CNN microphones that he would only change his mind if the conversation addressed the release of the American basketball player Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for smuggling drugs into the country.
