Vladimir Putin of Russia opted to give a virtual speech rather than show up for the BRICS Summit in South Africa.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders discussed the status of a number of bilateral cooperation projects and traded opinions on regional and international matters of shared interest, including the just-concluded BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia would be represented by H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, at the G20 Summit, which would be held in New Delhi on September 9–10, 2023. The PM thanked President Putin for Russia’s continued support of all measures under India’s G20 Presidency while expressing understanding for Russia’s choice.
The two presidents decided to keep in touch. Following reports last week that the Russian President would not personally attend the G20 summit to be held in New Delhi in September, the Kremlin announced on Friday that he has a “busy schedule” and that his main priority is still the “special military operation” in Ukraine. This prompted the two top leaders to speak by phone.
The G20 meeting of world leaders will take place in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. One of the biggest meetings of world leaders to ever take place in India is the summit. On December 1, 2022, India took up the G20 Presidency from Indonesia.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, told reporters in Moscow that the president does not have such intentions. Putin’s participation format, he indicated, would be decided later.
On February 24, 2022, Russia began a “special military operation” against Ukraine. India has pushed for a diplomatic and diplomatic-led resolution to the Ukraine issue.
Putin participated remotely at this week’s BRICS conference in Johannesburg, Peskov noted. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, attended the conference in his stead. And last, he does indeed have a hectic schedule right now. Of course, the special military operation continues to be the top priority. Therefore, direct travel is not currently planned, according to the Kremlin spokeswoman, who was quoted by the official Tass news agency.
The G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November of last year was absent from the participation of the Russian president. The first BRICS summit to take place in person since COVID-19 was postponed by President Putin because he was wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with an alleged conspiracy to relocate Ukrainian minors to Russia.
Being a signatory to the ICC, South Africa was anticipated to assist in Putin’s capture should he be there. From August 22–24, Putin skipped the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in favor of participating in some of its crucial sessions via video conferencing.
Denis Alipov, the Russian ambassador to India, indicated earlier today that a decision regarding who would represent his nation at the G20 Summit would be made soon as speculation increased.
