Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 leaders' summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali next week, Moscow's embassy in Indonesia said on Thursday.
The embassy's chief of protocol Yulia Tomskaya "I can confirm that (Foreign Minister) Sergei Lavrov will lead the Russian delegation to the G20. President Putin's program is still being worked out, he could participate virtually".
US President Joe Biden, who has called Putin a "war criminal" and who will be attending the summit, previously said he had no intention of meeting Putin in Bali if he went.
Along with US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to attend the two-day summit in Bali that starts on November 15.
Host Indonesia pursues a neutral foreign policy and has rebuffed Western calls to disinvite Russia from the summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the summit virtually.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Putin would be invited to the summit despite the invasion, prompting a flurry of Western criticism. In August, he said Putin had accepted that invitation.
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