EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has warned that a possible invitation to Vladimir Putin to the G20 leaders' summit in Florida in December would risk normalizing Russia's return to international forums while its war in Ukraine continues. The US has invited the Russian leader, though the Kremlin has yet to say whether he will accept.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Saturday, Kallas said the invitation "poses a lot of big questions" and risks "normalizing the war crimes being committed every day now" in Ukraine. Her comments followed the appearance of Sergey Lavrov at this week's G20 gathering in Atlanta, where several officials refused to pose for photographs with the Russian foreign minister. Kallas said Lavrov's presence still gave officials a chance to "immediately fight back on these lies" from Russian officials.
Kallas described Lavrov as not "constructive at all" at the Atlanta meeting, pointing to his suggestion that Putin would meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy only if he traveled to Moscow, even though neutral venues are available. She said that if Russia were serious about peace, it would first stop attacks that are killing civilians, noting that July, August and September had been some of the deadliest months of the war for non-combatants.
Kallas welcomed the US decision to sell Patriot missile systems to Ukraine but rejected any US pressure on NATO allies to soften their language about the Russian threat. "If you don't talk about the threat, the threat is not going away," she said, arguing that Europe must invest more in defense and deprive Russia of funding for its war machine. She also warned against steps that could make Moscow believe divisions are opening among Ukraine's allies, adding that Russia believes "time is on their side" and has not moved "one inch" in negotiations.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing