Putin invited to G20 summit in Florida as Kremlin thanks Washington

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it appreciates an invitation from the United States for President Vladimir Putin to attend the upcoming G20 summit in Miami, Florida, and will consider whether to accept. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, confirmed earlier in the day that the Trump administration had formally invited the Russian leader to the annual gathering, scheduled for December. We've invited President Putin to the G20, Mr Rubio said. We think it's an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders. We hope that's an invitation he'll accept.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Russia was grateful for and appreciative of the invitation. We will make a decision and work through it via diplomatic channels, he was quoted as saying by state media. Mr Putin and President Donald Trump last met in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025, which marked the Russian leader's first visit to the United States in a decade. Mr Putin has not visited the lower 48 states since before Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war that has isolated Moscow from much of the international community and drawn widespread condemnation. Any decision to attend the Miami summit would mark a further opening in relations between Washington and the Kremlin, even as Russian forces continue their brutal campaign against Ukraine and its people.