Why is Russian President Vladimir Putin not attending G20 summit in Bali?

This is the first meeting of leaders from the group after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. There were speculations about a possible confrontation of the Russian leader with US president Joe Biden this week at the summit.

Biden, who has called Putin a ‘war criminal’, earlier said he did not wish to meet the Russian leader at the summit if he attended.

Putin’s decision may be an attempt to try to shield Russia from Western condemnation at the November 15-16 summit. In the July G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali, Moscow’s top diplomat walked out after officials roundly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, AFP reported.

Prior to that, finance ministers from Western countries walked out of the G20 meeting in April to oppose Russia’s presence.

In the lead-up to the event, Western countries and Ukraine pressured G20 host Indonesia to withdraw its invitation to Putin for the summit and expel Russia from the group over the war in Ukraine. Indonesia, which pursues a neutral foreign policy, has rebuffed the call, saying it does not have the authority to do so unless a consensus is reached by all members of the group, Reuters reported.

Indonesia has also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is likely to participate in the summit virtually.

Putin may also not be attending the meeting to save himself from the embarrassment before world leaders after Russia announced the retreat of forces from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions Putin had said the country would annex in violation of international law, CNN reported.

Till now, Biden and Putin have only met once at a summit in Geneva in 2021. The US President spoke to Putin several times after Russia subsequently threatened to invade Ukraine. The last time the two men spoke was in February, just days before the war began.