Russia clears Putin’s schedule for G-20 summit in India

BLOOMBERG

The Kremlin is opening up Vladimir Putin’s schedule around this year’s G-20 summit in India in September to make it possible for the Russian president to participate in the leaders’ gathering after skipping the last two, according to people familiar with the planning.
Kremlin defiance is growing as efforts by the US and its allies to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine are stalling in the face of reluctance among other countries to join. For the moment, the Kremlin is planning for him to participate in the summit though no final decision has been made.
Officials this week shifted the dates for an annual economic forum in Vladivostok, which had been set for the eve of the September 9-10 summit, to a week later to give Putin greater flexibility and open the possibility that senior officials from India and China might attend the forum, the people said.
Formally, India has invited Putin to the G-20 summit and the Kremlin has accepted. But last year, amid pressure from the US and its allies over the war, Putin dropped plans to attend the gathering in Indonesia and sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place. He also skipped the G-20 meeting in Rome a year earlier while he was planning his invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has hardened its position since the fall after the US and its allies agreed to step up weapons supplies to Ukraine early this year, according to a person familiar with Kremlin thinking.