G20 Summit: PM Modi speaks to Putin; Lavrov to represent Russia in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the G20 Summit in New Delhi next month. The two leaders reviewed progress on a number of issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern, including the recently concluded BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Putin conveyed his inability to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023 and informed that Russia would be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the PMO said. PM Modi thanked Putin for Russia's consistent support of all initiatives under India's G20 Presidency. "The two leaders agreed to remain in touch."

Putin had also skipped the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Russia was represented by Lavrov there too. The Russian President did not travel to South Africa as it would have put the host country in a dilemma whether or not to arrest him on an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC has accused Putin and his children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.

Reuters last month reported that a local court submission had shown that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had asked permission from the ICC not to arrest Putin in the context of the BRICS summit because to do so would amount to a declaration of war.