Washington has sent an official invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of Twenty summit, which will be held on December 14–15, 2026, in Miami, Florida. This was announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the American TV channel One America News, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. According to Rubio, Washington expects the Russian leader to accept the invitation and personally attend the meeting of G20 heads of state. At the same time, the White House emphasizes that Putin's participation in the summit would open the way for a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Kremlin's Reaction: 'We Welcome It,' but the Decision Is Under Review
Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the invitation in his characteristic diplomatic manner. According to him, the Kremlin 'welcomes' the invitation received, however the final decision on Putin's trip to Miami will be made after the corresponding internal review within the Russian leadership. The phrasing 'we will review it' is neither a confirmation nor a refusal — it is a standard procedure that allows Moscow to preserve room for maneuver. Thus, at the time of publication, Putin's participation in the G20 summit is neither confirmed nor ruled out.
Context: From APEC in China to G20 in Florida
Before the announcement of the G20 invitation, analysts and media assessed the likelihood of Putin's presence in Miami as extremely low. In particular, Bloomberg previously reported that the Russian leader planned to attend the APEC summit in China on November 18–19, 2026, while his trip to Florida was considered unlikely. The shift in tone in Washington — from silence to a public invitation — indicates that the Trump administration is viewing the G20 as a platform for possible direct dialogue with Moscow against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tensions.
Kyiv's Position: Zelensky Ready for a Meeting 'on the Margins'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier publicly stated his readiness to meet with Putin on the margins of the G20 summit in Miami. If both leaders happen to be in Miami simultaneously on December 14–15, this would set a precedent for direct contact that has not been carried out at the highest level since the start of the full-scale conflict. At the same time, the list of G20 summit participants, in addition to Putin and Trump, may also include Zelensky, which would turn the event into a multi-vector diplomatic platform.
Contradictory Data
A number of inconsistencies and differences in assessments are recorded in open sources. First, even before the summit, Bloomberg characterized Putin's participation in the G20 as 'unlikely,' whereas Rubio's statement on One America News effectively states that the invitation has already been sent and Washington is awaiting a positive response. Second, Peskov's phrasing — 'the Kremlin welcomes' and 'will review' — is not equivalent to confirming participation: it is a diplomatic delay that may either precede agreement or serve as a polite refusal. Third, in different publications (RBC-Ukraine, NV, APA, BFM) the emphasis shifts: Ukrainian sources highlight the possibility of a meeting between Zelensky and Putin, while Russian ones emphasize 'review' and 'welcome' without specifics on dates and format. A single confirmed date on which Putin would have already fixed his trip does not exist at the time of publication.
What This Means for Diplomacy
Sending an official invitation to the G20 is the first public signal from the Trump administration of readiness for formal contact with Moscow on a multilateral platform. Even if Putin ultimately does not come, the very fact of the invitation changes the information backdrop: it demonstrates that Washington does not exclude Putin from international dialogue at the 'twenty' level. For Kyiv, the key question remains whether the G20 format can be used to organize a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin, which, according to the Ukrainian president, is possible 'on the margins' of the summit. The outcome will become clear in the coming weeks, once the Kremlin completes its internal review of the invitation.
