U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. government has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 meeting in Miami in December, as efforts move forward to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Rubio said the United States remained open to dialogue with Russia on Ukraine.
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“We have just invited President Putin to the G20. We see this as an opportunity for President Putin to interact not only with the president, but with other world leaders. We hope that President Putin will accept the invitation,” Rubio said.
President Trump and President Putin last met face-to-face in August 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska, but no agreement was reached on the Ukraine issue. President Putin has not visited the mainland United States since invading Ukraine in 2022.
Here’s what we know:
What is G20?
The Group of 20 (G20) is a forum that brings together the world’s major and emerging economies. The summit is held every year and this year it will be held in Miami, Florida, USA.
Those countries or groups of countries are:
Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa South Korea Turkiye United Kingdom United States African Union European Union
Many G20 countries, including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, are allied with Ukraine, while others, such as China and India, have close ties with Russia.
If he accepts the invitation, it will be the first time since 2019 that Putin will attend the G20 summit in person.
In 2021, the Russian leader attended the G20 summit virtually and spoke via video feed, but when the summit was held in India in 2023, Putin sent Lavrov in his place.
What did Russia say?
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said nothing had been decided about Putin’s attendance at the December summit.
“It’s too early to talk about this now,” Peskov told reporters when asked what the two leaders might discuss.
“No decision has been made yet. We certainly appreciate and value this kind invitation and it will be considered and adjusted, after which an appropriate decision will be taken.”
The spokesperson reiterated that Russia was seeking a peace settlement, not a temporary ceasefire.
What about US-Russia relations?
The United States maintains contacts with Russia for dialogue over the Ukraine war, but relations between the two countries are strained.
President Trump last week signed the Lindsay O. Graham Russia Sanctions Act of 2026, which gives the president broad authority to sanction buyers of Russian energy in an effort to pressure Moscow to end the war.
The bill, named after the late hawkish Republican congressman, would impose sanctions on Russian banks and financial institutions, as well as President Vladimir Putin, senior officials and oligarchs.
But this week, President Trump appeared to contradict that approach, calling on Ukraine to agree to an “energy ceasefire” with Russia in which both countries would stop attacking each other’s energy facilities and infrastructure. In comments to reporters at UN headquarters, President Zelensky said Kiev would also stop attacking Russian energy facilities if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine’s energy systems.
President Trump blamed the current record high diesel prices in the United States on the Ukraine-Russia war, which has become a major issue as the country prepares for midterm elections in November, adding that Ukraine’s attacks on Russian diesel facilities are “hurting the world.”
But observers said Trump was pressuring the wrong actors in the war.
“It is Russia’s responsibility, not Ukraine’s, to end the attack,” Marnie Howlett, associate professor of Eastern European and Eurasian international relations at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera. “The Russian Federation has repeatedly violated the cease-fire agreement, so the war will continue until it agrees to recognize Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.”
“Russia’s continued sale of fossil fuels is funding Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said Amanda Paul, senior policy analyst at the European Policy Center (EPC).
“Instead of emphasizing the impact of the attack on Ukraine on fuel prices, President Trump should put more pressure on Russia to end the attack and end the war.” “Trump himself is responsible for soaring energy prices due to the US-Israel war against Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Was President Putin’s G20 invitation expected this year?
Last month, US media reported that John Ratcliffe, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), visited Moscow for an unannounced meeting.
News of his trip first broke after an Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport plane was spotted flying into a Moscow airport, according to CBS News.
The CIA did not comment on his trip, but Mr. Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Mr. Ratcliffe spoke with Russian intelligence officials but did not meet with President Putin. A senior Ukrainian official later told CBS that the U.S. government had told Ukraine that a U.S. delegation was heading to Moscow and asked it to halt attacks on Kiev until the delegation departed.
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter, that Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev will travel to the United States to meet with envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
One source said the visit was aimed at continuing Russia-US dialogue and peacekeeping operations. Economic cooperation, energy issues and the peace agreement in Ukraine will also be on the agenda.
Will Putin’s visit trigger an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant?
no.
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Putin on charges of war crimes for illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.
Under the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the ICC, signatories are obligated to execute warrants when a person with an arrest warrant enters their territory.
However, the United States does not abide by the Rome Statute because it is not a signatory to it. Additionally, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing sanctions against the ICC, which also issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on war crimes charges in Gaza. The United States has previously imposed sanctions on ICC officials.
The new U.S. sanctions will ban most transactions with the ICC after a six- to seven-month grace period, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The measure would prohibit U.S. citizens and businesses from providing money, goods, or services to the ICC without authorization from the U.S. Treasury Department. Banks and other companies often take a particularly cautious approach to U.S. sanctions because they rely on access to the U.S. financial system.
On Thursday, President Trump urged all ICC member states to withdraw, calling the ICC “out of control.”
“The United States is equally opposed to the out-of-control institution known as the International Criminal Court,” he told the United Nations General Assembly. “We call on ICC member states to immediately formally resign from this corrupt organization.”
How did other countries react to President Putin’s invitation to the G20?
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kalas, criticized the invitation and said she would raise it with other members of the G20.
“We need to discuss this with our colleagues, but I think it is clearly the wrong path to normalize people who start wars, violate the United Nations Charter, kill or order killings of civilians, ignore international humanitarian law, and inflict as much damage and suffering on people as possible,” he added.
“Trust me, if we normalize this, a lot more will happen around the world.”
On Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, an ally of Ukraine, said inviting Putin to the Miami summit could encourage Moscow to continue attacking Ukraine.
“If inviting President Putin to the G20 would bring us closer to a just peace, I would definitely support it,” Tusk said at a press conference.
“But my concern, and my experience tells me, is that at this stage there is a good chance that Russia sees this as an encouragement to continue its aggressive policies. That’s what I’m concerned about.”
