Will Vladimir Putin visit India for G20 summit?

Is Russian president Vladimir Putin coming to India for the G20 in September? That’s the question on everyone’s mind. India, which took over the presidency of the G20 in December under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will host the summit on 9 and 10 September in New Delhi. Let’s take a closer look at what we know: What has Putin said? Putin himself has thus far remained non-committal. “I don’t know. I didn’t think about it. We’ll see,” Putin, responding to a question from a journalist regarding attending the G20, was quoted as saying by TASS on 31 July.

The Russian leader has made a habit of skipping high-profile summits in the past few years. Putin gave the G20 summit a miss in January 2021. Putin in July 2022 skipped the G20 summit in Indonesia’s Bali.

Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov took his place.

South African president Cyril Ramaphose in July said Putin would not attend the BRICS nations summit – the first such meet hosted in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions – in August. “By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr [Sergey] Lavrov,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. The summit, slated to be held on 23 and 24 August, will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa. Putin will instead deliver his speech at the summit via video conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency TASS. Peskov also confirmed that Lavrov will represent Russia at the summit in-person. Interestingly, Putin skipping the BRICS summit in South Africa comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin and top Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. The court, based in the Hague, said the Russian president bears responsibility for alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The ICC said Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”. [caption id=“attachment_10005361” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of the International Criminal Court. Courtesy: Official website of human rights watch[/caption] Moscow at the time utterly dismissed the warrant as ‘meaningless’ and noted that Russia had withdrawn from the court in 2016. “Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it. Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible [pretences] for arrest coming from the International Court of Justice will be legally null and void for us.” As a member of the ICC, South Africa was under a legal obligation to arrest Putin if he turned up, as per The Conversation. It is to be noted that India is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. Hindustan Times, quoting people in the know, reported that Russia is sending an advance team to New Delhi, but is yet to finalise whether Putin will attend the meet. A person in the know told the newspaper the final decision would likely come nearer to the summit date. The persons also noted that Russia had ‘in principle’ decided that Putin would show up for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit which India hosted in July.

However, New Delhi finally decided that the meeting would a virtual one.

Ex-ambassador Vivek Katju told the newspaper India would need to address the Ukraine matter hanging over the summit. “The visit of the Russian advance team indicates, at a minimum, that the Russians have not foreclosed options of participating in the G20 Summit at the highest level,” Katju added. No confirmation from New Delhi There also seems to be no confirmation from New Delhi. News18 quoted a source as saying, “We have extended the invitation. If Putin comes, G20 will be even more successful. But right now there is no final word on his attendance. India looks forward to full participation of all invitees,” the source said when asked about the Russian leader’s presence.” “India will also participate in the Jeddah talks. Either local representatives from the Embassy or representatives from Delhi will attend the meet. We have been invited and we’ll go. Our view is neutral and balanced. We’ll give our views, whether it’s the Saudi forum or an American forum. We have always batted for peace.”

“India has strategic interest in Russia in oil, defence and other sectors. Russia won’t be upset if we attend the meet,” the official added.

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Asked about Putin’s presence at the G20 earlier in July, External Affairs Ministry official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said he cannot issue a response on any particular leader. [caption id=“attachment_12836102” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a media briefing. Facebook/MEAINDIA/FILE[/caption] “At this point, all I can reiterate is what we have said earlier that invitation have gone out to all the G20 members as well as the invitee countries, the international organisations and all the invitee international organisations. This is a physical summit and we would hope that all the invitees are able to participate in person for the summit. “There have been confirmations I understand but again I don’t have any specific response on any particular leader, yes or no, and I don’t think it would be fair to look at it that way. But, yes, we are looking forward to welcoming the leaders here for our G20 Leaders Summit, New Delhi leaders’ Summit in September,” Bagchi added. With inputs from agencies