President of the United States Joe Biden remains in conversation with advisors regarding the approach to the G20 summit in November, in Bali, Indonesia, after confirmation came Friday, that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has planned to attend. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “The President has expressed publicly his opposition to President Putin attending the G20” adding “It is six months away. So we don’t know how to predict, we can’t predict at this point, what that will look like”. 

Noting that the summit is still six months away, Psaki continued, “We’ve conveyed our view that we don’t think they should be a part of it publicly and privately as well.” 

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Biden has made it clear that the US wants Russia ejected from the G20, and many in the administration have also boycotted summits where Russian delegates have been present. While Psaki said that Indonesia invited Russia prior to the Ukraine invasion, the nation’s president Joko Widodo said in a statement, “Indonesia wants to unite the G20. Don’t let there be a split. Peace and stability are the keys to the recovery and development of the world economy”, urging unity among the countries. 

Despite calls to exclude Russia, the US is realistic about the possibilities of the same, since it would require a consensus. G20 members like China, who have otherwise been ambivalent towards Russian actions in Ukraine, have opposed this exclusionary stance. 

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Interestingly, this is not the first G20 summit where Ukraine has been an issue. In 2014, when the summit was hosted in Brisbane, Australia, Putin had left two days early when he was reprimanded by member nations for supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine. Cut to 2022, Russia recognized the independence of the very same separatists in the Donbas region, before Moscow sent in troops on February 24, first as a peacekeeping force, and then declared a special military operation to “denazify” and “demilitarize” Ukraine, giving Europe the worst conflict it has seen since World War II. 

The core focus of G20 summits is to discuss business and economy, not war and national security, which is better addressed at the United Nations. However, in this conflict, the pushback against Russia has been an economic one, drawing focus to this possible upcoming showdown between the presidents at the meet. If Putin and Biden meet, this would also be the first time the presidents come face to face since the war in Ukraine began.