Putin to skip G20 summit and travel to China instead, Bloomberg reports

According to Bloomberg sources close to the Kremlin, Putin intends to attend the APEC summit in person. If the trip takes place, it will be his first in-person participation in an APEC leaders' meeting since 2017.

The summit is scheduled for November 18-19 and will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, China.

At the same time, sources told the outlet that the chances of Putin attending the G20 summit in Florida are very low.

Why Putin may skip the G20

According to Bloomberg sources, the Kremlin has little expectation of progress in talks on ending the war by the time of the G20 summit. Russian officials are also becoming increasingly frustrated with US President Donald Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Another factor could be the possible participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Bloomberg notes that there is a risk he could attend the G20 summit at the last minute.

Putin remains limited in his international travel due to sanctions, security risks and an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in 2023 over suspected unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was hoping for a new trilateral meeting involving Russia, Ukraine and the US. According to him, Russian representatives had already discussed the possibility of such a meeting with US negotiators.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the US approach to the peace process a positive signal. He claimed that Moscow viewed Washington's willingness to take the situation on the battlefield into account during negotiations positively.

Trump himself previously said he was ready to meet with Putin after Moscow agreed to end the war against Ukraine.