President Donald Trump said at a White House press conference on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence at the upcoming G20 summit in Miami “would be very helpful,” although he also said he had not actually invited Putin.
“I doubt he would come,” Trump told reporters. “But if he came, it would be very helpful.”
Trump mused that Putin was “very offended” when he was ejected from the Group of Eight (G8) in 2014 due to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“I’d venture to say you probably wouldn’t be having these problems if you didn’t throw him out. I’m of the opinion that you talk to everybody,” Trump said.
Russia is still technically a member of the G20, but has not attended a summit since the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic in 2019, and was further ostracized after invading Ukraine in 2022.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes in March 2023, technically obliging parties to the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to arrest the Russian leader if he treads upon their soil. The United States withdrew from the Rome Treaty in 2002, two years after signing it, out of concern that politicized prosecutions could target American officials.
The G20 topic was raised at the press conference because the Washington Post wrote on Thursday that Trump does intend to invite Putin to the summit at Trump’s Doral golf resort in December.
The actual quotes from administration officials in the Washington Post article were a bit vague about who might receive an invitation to Doral, and when.
The State Department said Trump “has been clear that Russia is welcome to attend all G-20 meetings as the United States focuses on delivering a successful and productive summit.”
An unnamed “senior administration official” said that “no formal invitations have been issued at this time, but Russia is a G20 member, and will be invited to attend ministerial meetings and the leaders’ summit.”
“As a member of the G20, Russia has been invited to all working-level meetings to date. President Trump has been clear that Russia is welcome to attend all G20 meetings as the United States focuses on delivering a successful and productive summit,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The only sources for the contention that Putin himself might be invited to attend were unnamed “Russian officials,” who claimed Putin had already received his invitation and was mulling over whether to accept.
“President Putin may go to Miami as a member of the G20, or he may not go, or another Russian representative may go,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a Russian state television interview on Friday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin also claimed “Russia has been invited to take part in the G20 in Miami at the top level,” but did not specify which officials could be sent to Miami. The G20 is usually, but not always, attended by heads of state from member nations.
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