Putin set to attend Xi's APEC summit in China, likely to skip G-20 with Trump

Vladimir Putin is set to travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit hosted by President Xi Jinping, but is likely to skip the Group of 20 in the US with Donald Trump, according to people close to the Kremlin.

The Russian president plans to take part personally in the APEC meeting for the first time since 2017, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is not public. There is only a “very slim prospect” of him joining Trump for the G-20 in Florida. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to a request for comment.

Xi will host APEC leaders in Shenzhen on November 18-19. Russian officials have speculated about the prospect of holding an unprecedented trilateral meeting between the leaders of the world’s three biggest nuclear powers on the sidelines of the summit. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian state television earlier in September that Putin and Xi had discussed the idea at talks during the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, adding it would depend on whether Trump decided to attend APEC.

Putin’s foreign travel has been constrained by sanctions, security considerations and a 2023 International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children — though he did visit Mongolia in 2024, even though it is a party to the Rome Statute.

The same sources said Russian officials expect practically no progress before the G-20 in negotiations on a deal to end the war in Ukraine, and are increasingly disappointed in Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They also flagged the risk of a last-minute appearance at the G-20 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.