Von der Leyen may not attend the G20 summit in the U.S. if Putin is there

The European Commission has not yet announced whether its President, Ursula von der Leyen, will attend the G20 summit in Miami if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin attends the meeting.

According to him, Russia remains a member of the “Group of Twenty” and has the right to participate in meetings of this format. At the same time, the European Union will continue to use the G20 platform to condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine.
 

“Since 2022, the EU has consistently and resolutely used G20 meetings to condemn Russia’s full-scale invasion and call for its cessation. Today I can say that, from the European Union’s perspective, this approach will remain unchanged regardless of who participates in the G20 meeting,” Hill stated.

At the same time, the European Commission spokesperson did not directly answer the question of whether von der Leyen is prepared to be in the same room as Putin during the summit. 

“We’ll see how the situation develops, and perhaps we’ll be able to say more later,” he noted. 

Hill also made it clear that it is too early to discuss the EU’s possible participation in a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia in Miami, as this is currently only an idea. 

This was stated by European Commission spokesperson Olof Hill. 

The Kremlin has responded to Putin’s invitation to the U.S. for the G20 summit.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has not yet made a decision regarding his participation in the G20 summit and, accordingly, regarding a meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As a reminder, Zelenskyy effectively proposed to the Kremlin leader that they hold a face-to-face meeting specifically during the “Group of Twenty” summit in December 2026.

Prior to this, the U.S. had invited Putin to the December G20 summit in Miami.