US invites Putin to G20 summit in Miami, hopes he attends

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New York that Washington has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 leaders' summit taking place in Miami in December. Rubio said he hopes Putin will accept the invitation, describing it as an opportunity for the Russian leader to engage not only with US President Donald Trump but with other world leaders as well.

Rubio said it would be good if Trump and Putin were to meet in Miami. He noted the two leaders have already spoken by phone multiple times since Trump took office — at least ten times, by his estimate. Rubio stressed that the US remains open to dialogue.

A concrete outcome as the goal

Rubio said the ideal scenario would be a meeting that produces a concrete result, which would require substantial groundwork beforehand. However, even without that, Putin's participation in the December G20 summit would still give the two sides a chance to talk and discuss outstanding issues. He added that resolving problems requires meeting with those one disagrees with or has tensions with.

Uncertainty over attendance

According to Bloomberg, Putin will likely skip the US-hosted G20 summit that Trump is set to attend. It recently emerged that Putin rejected a proposal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold talks on ending the war on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the US. Trump himself has said he does not know whether Putin would agree to a three-way meeting with Zelensky in Miami.