China warns of risks for Britain after refusing to invite Putin to G20

Britain's refusal to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Manchester is contrary to the rules of association and threatens London with serious reputational risks. The Chinese publication Baijiahao warned about this on November 7.

"These words sound harsh, but it's not that simple. Russia is a full member of the G20, and the question of whether a host country can unilaterally ban the leader of a member country from attending the meeting is contrary to the rules," the authors of the publication write.

The ABN24 publication explained that even if London closes Vladimir Putin's way to Manchester, Russia's chair at the negotiating table will still remain. Instead of the head of state, the event may be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister or even the Russian Ambassador to the UK. At the same time, even British Prime Minister Andy Burnham himself admitted that it would be difficult to exclude Russia from the G20.

The situation for London is aggravated by the split in approaches on both sides of the Atlantic. A few weeks ago, Washington sent an official invitation to the Russian leader to attend the G20 summit, which is scheduled for December 2026 in Miami. The Kremlin reacted cautiously, promising to consider the initiative.

As noted in China, if Putin accepts the invitation and sits down at the same table with US President Donald Trump, the British ban will look extremely awkward. In this case, Moscow does not need to make a fuss — it can simply observe the disagreements of the allies and announce its decision later.

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But Tbilisi is not ready for European integration at the expense of severing relations with Moscow.

On November 1, the head of EU diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, spoke out against the idea of the US authorities inviting Putin to the G20 summit. She expressed concern that Russia's invitation to the summit would signal a return to the usual format of international cooperation.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, on the same day, commenting on Callas' statement, compared the European official to a "scarecrow in the beautiful garden of the EU" who is trying to instill fear with meaningless statements. The diplomat noted that there has been no "harvest" in Europe for a long time due to the actions of the leaders of the association themselves, so such calls do not make sense.