The Weakness Behind China’s Strong Façade
Foreign AffairsNov 24, 2022
The Facts
Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin won't attend the G20 summit of the world's largest economies in Bali, Indonesia in person next week, officials in Moscow and Jakarta said Thursday. It will be the first meeting of G20 leaders since the start of the Ukraine war.
Russia will send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead, while the Russian leader is reportedly set to participate in one of the G20 meetings virtually. In recent months, Western leaders had called on Jakarta to exclude Putin from the summit amid the Ukraine war.
The Spin
Anti-Russia narrative
Putin's decision not to attend the G20 summit underscores his increasing isolation amid his unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. Likely scared to face Western leaders, Putin — who would have had nothing productive to contribute — preferred to evade this uncomfortable reality.
Pro-Russia narrative
Washington and its allies have already hijacked previous G20 meetings to claim a moral high ground over Russia and denounce it for the Ukraine war — and this summit won't be any different. Given Washington's hypocrisy and the West's lack of interest in using the G20 to discuss the world's many current problems in a cooperative spirit, Putin's decision not to attend is perfectly understandable.