Putin will not attend G20 summit, organizers say

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the chief of support for Group of 20 events, said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision not to come to the summit next week was “the best for all of us.” The two-day summit in Indonesia could have been the first time U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin came together since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine. They did meet last year in Geneva, Switzerland. Biden plans to meet with China President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Indonesia meeting.

Why is Putin not attending? Pandjaitan said he did not know Putin’s reasons for staying away, but speculated that he “might be busy at home.” He speculated that the same reason could be keeping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy away from the summit, as well. Putin’s decision to stay away could save him the embarrassment of either passive-aggressive or outright explosive showdowns with Western leaders. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia at the G-20 summit in Putin’s place.

Dig deeper: Read Evgeny Kosykh’s report in WORLD Magazine about how Russians are speaking out against the war in Ukraine—despite government crackdowns.