Trump invites Russia’s Putin to G-20 summit in Miami

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend the G-20 summit in the US in December 2026. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “you have to meet with the people that you disagree with” in order to solve problems.

UNITED NATIONS, United States - President Donald Trump has invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit of world leaders in Miami in December, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sept 23.

The move comes as Washington struggles to secure a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Trump insisting that he is working with both sides to stop the war.

“In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with or the people that you might have some issues with,” Rubio told reporters in New York on Sept 23.

“So we’ve invited President Putin to the G-20,” he added.

“We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders. We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept,” Rubio said.

The top US diplomat spoke shortly after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a hotel in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Their meeting also comes ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s scheduled address to the United Nations.

Zelensky is expected to appeal again for better air defences against the barrage of Russian drones and missiles.

But on Sept 23, Lavrov told the UN Security Council that Moscow would not halt its war of more than four years against Ukraine.

“We are not going to have a pause in our special military operation,” Lavrov said, accusing Europe of wanting to use a halt to the fighting to “pump the Kyiv regime with weapons.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, speaking after Lavrov, told the Security Council that his Russian counterpart’s comment “said it all.”

Rubio also encouraged for Moscow and Kyiv to reach an energy ceasefire.

While this does not end the war, it could create a platform for broader agreement, he noted.

Rubio said both sides have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire involving energy.

Zelensky has told journalists that Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Russian energy sites if Moscow agrees to do likewise, after Trump called on him to stop hitting diesel refineries.

After meeting with Trump on Sept 22, Zelensky said that Washington and Kyiv want the war with Russia to end “before winter.”

While the United States and Russian presidents have spoken by telephone on various occasions, the last time they met was in 2025.

On a separate note about the conflict in the Middle East, Rubio warned on Sept 23 that the last thing Israel or the wider region needed was for the West Bank to become a new crisis.

“The last thing Israel needs or the region needs is an additional crisis or an additional friction point, we understand that that’s the case and that’s what’s happening,” Rubio said. AFP