Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to skip the G20 Summit that is scheduled to be held in Bali, Indonesia, next week over fears of being the target of an assassination attempt.
The non-attendance of the Russian strongman was announced by an Indonesian government official on Thursday. Putin skipping the G20 Summit is also an attempt to avoid a potential confrontation with the United States and its allies over Moscow's war on Ukraine.
G20 Summit
The chief of support for G20 events, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that the Russian president's decision not to come was "the best for all of us." Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are expected to appear at the two-day summit that begins on Tuesday.
The G20 Summit would have been the first time that Biden and Putin were together at a gathering since Russia waged war on Ukraine earlier this year. The event in Bali is being hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as per the Associated Press.
Pandjaitan, after meeting security officials in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, said that they have been officially informed that Russia's president would not be attending the G20 Summit. He added that Moscow will be represented by a high-level official.
The Indonesian official said that he was not aware of the reason behind the Russian president's non-attendance at the event. However, Pandjaitan said that maybe it was because Putin was busy attending to matters at home.
According to Fox News, some believe that the real reason for the skip is over fears that there is a possible assassination attempt on the Russian strongman. Russian political strategist and Putin adviser Sergey Markov said that the reasons for the skipping of the summit were serious, arguing that the assassination attempt was from special services of the US, Britain, and Ukraine.
Putin Suspects Assassination Attempt
The Russian official also suggested a scenario where Putin was subjected to "humiliating situations" during the G20 Summit. Markov cited an example, where a disabled social activist knocks the Russian president down "accidentally" and all the world's media takes a picture.
A former DIA intelligence officer for Russian Doctrine & Strategy, Rebekah Koffler, said that there have been more than a dozen probable assassination attempts against the Russian president throughout his presidency.
However, Koffler added that any suggestion that US or British intelligence would carry out the plot was "baseless" and noted that it was part of a "Russian disinformation" campaign to come up with an "excuse" to miss the event.
Koffler explained that there may be other reasons that Putin will not attend the G20 Summit, possibly on top of security concerns. She said that there are intelligence indicators that suggest Moscow is planning to set up a trap in Kherson by luring Ukrainian forces with a "fake" withdrawal of military personnel.
Leading up to the G20 Summit, various Western countries, as well as Ukraine, have pressured Indonesia to step up its condemnation of Russia. They also argued that the Indonesian government should also withdraw its invitation to Putin for the summit, CNN reported.
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