While US President Donald Trump may be focusing on efforts for a ceasefire in the war with Iran, as well as the truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, he is not overlooking his relations with Vladimir Putin, while the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. This emerges from statements by a high-ranking US official, who revealed yesterday (23/4) to AFP that the Trump administration plans to invite Russia to participate in the upcoming G20 Summit, which will take place in Miami on December 14 and 15, 2026.
“No formal invitation has been sent so far, but Russia is a member of the G20 and will be invited to participate in ministerial meetings and the leaders’ summit” scheduled to be organized at a golf complex owned by the American president Donald Trump’s family, said the French Agency source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
US-Russia relations through “40 waves”
For its part, the Kremlin, through Dmitry Peskov, argued today (24/4) that the Russian president might travel to the US to represent his country at the G20 Summit, a significant development in bilateral US-Russia relations, which have gone through “forty waves” since Donald Trump returned to the presidency.
Today’s statement differs from what he said yesterday Thursday (23/4) to accredited diplomatic correspondents: “No decision of this type has been made, but Russia has participated in every summit at the appropriate level. As the summit approaches, a decision will be made regarding the format of our participation.”
Russian Federation Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin stated the day before yesterday Wednesday (22.04.2026), according to Russian news agencies, that the country was invited to participate in the summit “at the highest level.”
Vladimir Putin, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes” in the context of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, did not participate in the previous G20 summit, which was held in Johannesburg in November 2025.
In South Africa, Russia was represented by his advisor on economic affairs, Maxim Areskin. The US holds this year’s rotating presidency of the G20, an economic cooperation organization of the world’s major developed and emerging states.
