Trump administration invites Putin to G20 summit in Miami

The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami, Florida, in December, where he could potentially meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami, Florida, in December, where he could potentially meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the invitation on Wednesday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“We’ve invited President Putin to the G20. 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 Kremlin said it appreciated the invitation and would consider whether Putin would attend.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would make a decision through diplomatic channels.

“We saw the reports in the media and the statements by the secretary of state. We are grateful and appreciative for this invitation,” Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies. “We will make a decision and work through it via diplomatic channels.”

Rubio also indicated that Trump remained open to meeting Putin separately if there were a clear purpose for such a meeting. However, no one-on-one meeting between the two leaders has been confirmed for the G20 summit.

Rubio and Lavrov also discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine during their meeting at the UN General Assembly. The talks came as the Trump administration continued diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the conflict. The Russian side has said it remains open to a political and diplomatic settlement, while maintaining that there are currently no conditions for moving to a new negotiating process.

Peskov has also said that Russia’s position on negotiations with Ukraine remains unchanged. Any potential meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains a separate issue, with the location and conditions for such talks still disputed.

The United States has been pursuing renewed diplomatic efforts between Moscow and Kyiv, including contacts by U.S. envoys with both sides. Trump and Putin last met in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025, marking Putin’s first visit to the United States in a decade. Putin has not visited the contiguous United States since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The December G20 summit would therefore provide a potential opportunity for Putin to engage directly with Trump and other world leaders if the Russian president accepts the invitation.