New Delhi is all set to host the G20 Summit; the pavements have been beautified with local flora, the schools have been shut, the rehearsals are ongoing, and the traffic schedule is out. Amidst all this preparation, Putin has been confirmed to be a no-show. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Putin is not planning a trip to the G20 summit in India, which will be held in September. The main emphasis now is the special military operation ,” Mr. Peskov said in an interaction with the Russian media.” This will be his second absence from the G20 Summit, counting his last year’s non-attendance from the Bali-hosted G20 Summit as well.

He has been consistently absent from several global diplomatic events like the recent 15th BRICS Summit concluded at Johannesburg on Thursday, of this week. Instead, Russia’s delegation was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as was in Bali last year as well.

Putin

The G20 summit is an annual meeting of the leaders of the world's 20 largest economies. The summit is usually held in a different country each year. This year's summit is scheduled to be held in Bali, Indonesia, from November 15-16, 2022.

The G20 summit is a major opportunity for world leaders to discuss global issues and coordinate their responses. Putin's absence is likely to make it more difficult for the G20 to reach consensus on important issues. It is also likely to increase tensions between Russia and the West.

An Indian news source shared, “Earlier, the cancellation of the physical summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) under the Indian chairship had pre-empted a possible visit by Mr. Putin to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi steered the SCO summit in virtual mode on July 4 as India decided in May that the SCO summit would not be held in the physical format.”

In this series of no-shows, Vladimir Putin did attend Tajikistan and Turkmenistan in June 2022 on account of Kabul’s accession by the Taliban in 2021 with Prez Emomali Rahmon and the Caspian Summit to increase land connectivity between Central Asia and Russia respectively.

Another key reason for the global seat of Russia bearing emptiness recently has been the arrest warrant by ICC for Ukraine war crimes which has also been allegedly the cause for his absence in BRICS as it was held in South Africa and it is a member of ICC. Albeit, South Africa has denied Russia’s truancy as an effect of that.

Putin wishes to focus at the internal affairs of his home.

However, India is not a signatory of the ICC as it did not sign the core treaty i.e. ‘Rome Statue’ and has on several occasions hosted countries in the ICC ‘blacklist’ but it seems to us that due to the war and the recent space failure, Putin wishes to focus at the internal affairs of his home. He is expected to continue this trend extending to his next pre-planned visit to Turkey also.

The G20 Summit may not be a full house but it will definitely be a powerhouse with important leaders joining India at the national capital namely US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and ‘guest countries’ like Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Spain. The Summit will be a two-day event on September 9th and 10th at the newly built and recently inaugurated Bharat Mandapam, contrary to Delhi’s old favourite – the Pragati Maidan. This will be the 18th G20 Leaders’ Summit which will amalgamate all G20 meetings and procedures held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil society.

VK Saxena, the Lieutenant Governor of New Delhi has been incessantly holding meetings to discuss the requirements of the events, the progress, and the review of the tasks completed to ensure the eventual success of this important event.

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