Putin may or may not attend the G20 in Miami, the Kremlin says
MOSCOW, April 24 (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin may or may not travel to the G-20 summit in Miami, the Kremlin said on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said it would be very helpful if the Russian president did attend.
Trump intends to invite Putin to attend the G-20 summit in December in Miami, the Washington Post reported earlier on Thursday, citing administration officials.
"President Putin may go to Miami as a member of the G20, or he may not go, or another Russian representative may go," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television correspondent Pavel Zarubin.
Russia would in any case be represented properly at the summit, Peskov said, adding that Moscow viewed the G20 as very important given the crises that were emerging across the world.
The Kremlin said last year that it agreed with Trump that it had been a mistake to kick Russia out of the Group of Eight in 2014 but that the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked "rather useless".
Russia has been invited to take part in the G20 in Miami at the top level, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov, Writing by Guy Faulconbridge/Anna Peverieri; editing by Andrew Osborn )
