Mint Explainer: Why Putin skipped BRICS and G20
President Vladimir Putin of Russia will be unable to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi, the Kremlin announced last week. This came after Russia’s longtime leader also skipped the BRICS Summit in South Africa. Putin will also skip the East Asia Summit in Jakarta, which will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate.
Mint breaks down the case of the Missing Mr. Putin. In November 2022, Russia’s President announced that he would be unable to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali.
Since then, Putin has skipped a series of important international events. He did not attend the BRICS Leaders’ Summit in South Africa, which concluded last week. He also expressed his inability to attend the East Asia Summit, a high-powered meeting of Asian leaders, in Jakarta next month.
His decision to skip the G20 Summit in Delhi is just the latest major summit he has missed. The last major international event he attended in person was the leaders meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in September 2022. He also took part in the Eurasian Economic Forum in May this year.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was unable to attend the Delhi G20 Summit due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, experts speculate that Putin is aware of the international isolation suffered by Russia due to the war. The joint statement from the Bali G20 Summit was heavily critical of Russia’s violation of international law in its invasion of Ukraine.
This may also have partly factored into his decision to skip this year’s summit in New Delhi. Putin was also unable to attend the BRICS Summit due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for his actions in Ukraine. South African authorities may have been obligated
. Read more on livemint.com
