United States invites Vladimir Putin to attend December G20 summit in Miami

Formal invitation in New York

On September 23, 2026, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 leaders summit in Miami. Speaking on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, Rubio confirmed the outreach followed a direct meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The summit is scheduled for December 14 and 15 at a golf club owned by US President Donald Trump in Florida, with the United States holding the rotating G20 presidency in 2026. Rubio presented the outreach as a practical step toward addressing international friction directly.

Rubio explained the rationale behind inviting the Russian head of state:

To solve problems, you have to meet with the people you disagree with or with whom there may be difficulties. That is why we have invited President Putin to the G20 summit.

Potential Ukraine talks and Kremlin response

The invitation creates the possibility of a direct diplomatic encounter between Moscow and Kyiv on American soil. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he is prepared to meet Putin if both leaders attend the Florida summit, noting that dialogue is necessary to reach concrete decisions. However, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov previously called a face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy at the G20 impossible, repeating Moscow's stance that any direct talks should take place in the Russian capital. Russian diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told the Izvestia newspaper that formal attendance had not yet been discussed internally, and the Kremlin maintains that no final decision on travelling to Miami has been reached. Alongside the summit invitation, Rubio called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop reciprocal attacks on energy infrastructure, echoing a demand made by Trump in mid-September.

Shifting policy on Russian participation

Putin has not attended a G20 summit in person since 2019, prior to the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The last bilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine occurred in December 2019 in Paris under the Normandy format, alongside former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. While Russia was never formally expelled from the G20 (a step requiring unanimous consent among member states), Western officials had previously staged walkouts over Russian attendance, including during a ministerial meeting led by former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington in April 2022. The Trump administration has pursued direct dialogue, including a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska during the summer of 2025.

European objections and summit preparations

The decision follows a preliminary move on August 31, 2026, when Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended a G20 ministerial meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. Siluanov met privately with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, marking Moscow's return to the ministerial table after years of absence. That appearance drew criticism from European officials who warned against normalizing ties with Russia. European Union Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis stated in Asheville that the moment was inappropriate for restoring standard relations, while German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil described the uncoordinated invitation as irritating. The G20 comprises 19 countries, the European Union, and the African Union, leaving Washington to navigate conflicting allied positions as planning continues for the December summit.