Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit in Indonesia next week

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said on Thursday (November 10), avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for G-20 events, said Putin’s decision not to come was “the best for all of us.”

US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit that starts next Tuesday. The summit would have been the first time Biden and Putin were together at a gathering since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Indonesian President Joko



Widodo is hosting the event on the island of Bali.

“It has been officially informed that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G-20 summit, and will be represented by a high-level official, and this has been discussed by President Joko Widodo and Putin in previous telephone conversations,” Pandjaitan said after meeting security officials in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

“Whatever happens with Russia’s decision, it is for our common good and the best for all of us,” added Pandjaitan, who is is also the coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment. He said earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation.