Both the Kremlin and the White House had recently signaled mutual openness to the idea of President Putin actually attending the G20 Miami Summit which is set for December 14-15. Some reports have recently expressed optimism that some kind of grand Ukraine peace deal could emerge from such an engagement.
However, Bloomberg has poured cold water on this, reporting Monday that "Vladimir Putin is set to travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit hosted by President Xi Jinping but is likely to skip the Group of 20 in the U.S. with Donald Trump."
Kremlin officials have indicated that a personal appearance at the APEC would be Putin's first since 2017
"There’s only a very slim prospect of him joining President Trump for the G20 in Florida, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public," notes Bloomberg.
But it does remain possible, given the Shenzhen-hosted APEC summit takes place almost a full month ahead of the annual G20 summit.
The Kremlin now signaling that it intends to turn down any potential Trump invitation perhaps underscores that Putin is much more comfortably in Xi's corner.
Back in April, The Washington Post reported, "The United States intends to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Group of 20 leaders’ summit scheduled for December at President Donald Trump’s Doral golf resort in Miami, though the invitation has not yet been sent."
And then just weeks ago there was a Russian delegation in attendance for the Asheville G20 finance ministers and bank governors meeting. The Europeans were angry over their presence, which included a meeting with Scott Bessent.
Ukraine's President Zelensky is expected to be in Miami. This raised the prospect of an unprecedented Putin-Zelensky meeting even as the war rages. But it should be remembered that Putin has time and again stated he would entertain face-to-face negotiations with Zelensky only if a final settlement was to be signed.
So if the White House does intend to get Putin there, a lot of scrambling and diplomatic progress would have to happen in the next few months. But Putin might also simply wish to send a signal that Western efforts to isolate him on the world stage have failed.
Traveling to Miami would send a resounding symbol to hawkish European capitals, akin to the prior Alaska summit with Trump. But again, it seems that so far the Kremlin is giving this possibility the preemptive cold shoulder.