U.S. Invites Putin to December G20 Summit in Miami

The United States has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Miami in December, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday, publicly confirming the invitation after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York. Putin has not publicly accepted, and no meeting with President Donald Trump has been agreed. Rubio said the summit could give Putin an opportunity to engage with Trump and other world leaders. The meeting is scheduled for December 14 and 15, according to one account; the precise dates were not specified consistently in the available statements. The invitation marks a potential return by Putin to an in-person G20 leaders’ summit for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, if he attends. Rubio described the invitation as part of Trump’s willingness to meet with leaders with whom the United States has disagreements. He cautioned against treating it as evidence of an imminent leaders’ meeting or a broader agreement. He said a face-to-face meeting with Putin would be more useful if it had a clearly defined outcome.