Invitations sent to all leaders for G20 Summit: MEA on Russian President's participation

New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): India has sent out invitations to all G20 members, invitee countries and international organizations and is looking forward to welcoming their participation for the G20 Summit scheduled in the national capital this September.
Responding to a question on whether Russia has confirmed participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the G20 Summit, External Affairs Ministry official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said he cannot issue a response on any particular leader. 
"At this point, all I can reiterate is what we have said earlier that invitation have gone out to all the G20 members as well as the invitee countries, the international organisations and all the invitee international organisations. This is a physical summit and we would hope that all the invitees are able to participate in person for the summit.
"There have been confirmations I understand but again I don't have any specific response on any particular leader, yes or no, and I don't think it would be fair to look at it that way. But, yes, we are looking forward to welcoming the leaders here for our G20 Leaders Summit, New Delhi leaders' Summit in September," he said. 
Putin had skipped the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in 2022 and sent his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his place.
Earlier today, the office of South African President, Cyril Ramaphose had announced that Putin will not attend the BRICS nations summit. This will be the first summit hosted in person since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions. The Summit will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa.  
Putin will instead deliver his speech at the summit via video conference, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency TASS. Peskov also confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia at the summit in-person.
Lavrov had this March participated in the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa. India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1.
The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9-10. The meeting will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.
A G20 Leaders' declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the New Delhi Summit, stating Leaders' commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings, according to the official G20 statement. 
The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union. The invited countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE. (ANI)