OMM Redaksiyası
US President Donald Trump’s administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December, as Washington seeks to maintain dialogue with Moscow over the war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the invitation after meeting Russian Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
“We’ve just invited President Putin to the G20. We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders. We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept,” Rubio said.
What the invitation could mean
If Putin accepts, it would be his first in-person appearance at a G20 summit since 2019. He attended the 2021 meeting virtually, while Russia sent Lavrov to the 2023 summit in India.
Trump and Putin last met face to face in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025, but failed to reach an agreement on Ukraine. Putin has not visited the contiguous United States since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The G20 brings together major and emerging economies, including Russia, the United States, China, India, the European Union and the African Union. While Germany, France and the United Kingdom support Ukraine, China and India maintain closer ties with Moscow.
Russia has not made a decision
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that no decision had been made about Putin’s attendance.
“We certainly appreciate this kind invitation, we value it, and it will be reviewed and coordinated, after which an appropriate decision will be reached,” Peskov told reporters, adding that it was too early to discuss what the two leaders might address.
Peskov also reiterated that Russia was seeking a peace settlement rather than a temporary ceasefire.
Strained US-Russia relations
Although Washington and Moscow have kept channels open over Ukraine, relations remain tense. Trump recently signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, giving the president broad powers to penalise buyers of Russian energy.
The law also imposes sanctions on Putin, senior Russian officials, oligarchs and Russian banks and financial institutions. However, Trump this week called for an “energy truce” under which Russia and Ukraine would stop striking each other’s energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would halt attacks on Russian energy facilities if Moscow stopped targeting Ukraine’s energy systems.
Trump has linked the war to a record rise in diesel prices in the United States, saying Ukrainian strikes on Russian fuel facilities were “hurting the world”. Analysts cited by Al Jazeera said the US president was placing pressure on the wrong side, arguing that Russia was responsible for ending the attacks.
Why the International Criminal Court warrant would not apply
A visit to the United States would not trigger the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin because the US is not a party to the Rome Statute, which established the court.
The ICC issued the warrant in March 2023 over the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. The Rome Statute obliges member states to enforce such warrants, but Washington is not bound by that requirement.
Trump has called on ICC member states to withdraw from the court. His administration is also reportedly preparing sanctions that could restrict US citizens and companies from providing the ICC with money, goods or services without authorisation.
European criticism
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticised the invitation, saying it risked normalising leaders who launch wars and violate international law.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would support the invitation if it helped achieve a just peace, but warned that Moscow could interpret it as encouragement to continue its attacks on Ukraine.
