US Secretary of State Rubio confirms his invitation to Putin to the G20 summit

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reiterated the US invitation to Vladimir Putin to attend this year's G20 summit. He hoped that the Russian head of state would travel to the summit, Rubio said after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York.

It was an opportunity for Putin to meet personally with US President Donald Trump and also to talk to other heads of state and government, said Rubio. "To solve problems, you have to meet with the people with whom you disagree or with whom you may have difficulties," he said.

Russia welcomed the US Secretary of State's statements. "We are grateful and appreciate this invitation," Russian news agencies quoted presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. Putin will examine the US invitation and comment on it.

The USA is chairing the G20 group this year. The summit is scheduled to take place in December at a Trump golf club in the US state of Florida. Although Russia is officially still a member of the G20, Putin last physically attended a summit in 2019. The G20 group includes 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union.

Trump hopes Putin will take part

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said he was generally willing to talk to Putin at the G20 meeting. Peskov called this "impossible" and renewed the suggestion that Putin could receive Zelensky in Moscow. The heads of state of Ukraine and Russia last met in Paris in December 2019. The then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron also took part in the meeting in the so-called Normandy format.

Trump had already expressed the hope in April that Putin could travel to Miami. "If he came, it would probably be pretty helpful," he said at the time. But he also expressed doubts as to whether this would actually happen. At the beginning of September, the US Congress also passed a sanctions package that also includes an entry ban against the Russian head of state.

Putin last met Trump bilaterally in August 2025 in the USA. The two also spoke on the phone several times during the Ukraine war. The USA sees itself as a mediator in the war that has been going on for more than four and a half years. So far, however, they have not made any significant progress towards ending the war.

Zelensky ready for ceasefire in the Black Sea

However, speaking after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Rubio said Ukraine and Russia have both expressed interest in a limited ceasefire that would include grain and energy-related targets. Zelensky spoke to Trump about a ceasefire on energy-related targets during his visit to New York, it said.