NEW YORK — The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G-20 summit in Florida, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday, the latest sign of the United States’ interest in hosting the longtime adversary later this year.
“We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders, [and] we hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept,” Rubio said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly here.
The top U.S. diplomat dismissed the notion that the United States should refrain from dealing with Putin because of long-standing disagreements between Washington and Moscow.
“In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with or the people that you might have some issues with,” Rubio said.
It’s unclear if Putin intends to attend the G-20, to be held in Miami in December. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the Kremlin has been noncommittal in past public statements about President Donald Trump’s invitation.
Rubio’s remarks followed his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier in the day. The two diplomats discussed the “Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship,” according to a State Department readout of the engagement.
Planning for the G-20 comes as security experts have warned that military escalations between U.S.-backed Ukraine and Russia could deepen the war despite Trump’s intent to find a diplomatic resolution. Rubio said that if Putin does attend, “that will certainly be an opportunity” for Trump and Putin “to interact and talk.”
The invitation, first signaled by the administration in April, marks a stark change from Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, who said he would support removing Russia from the G-20, a multilateral forum for the world’s top 20 economies.
Ukrainian and some European officials have expressed anxiety about previous U.S. engagements with Russia, worried that their interests may not be represented in any agreements Washington and Moscow might make.
Rubio said conventional thinking on dialogue with U.S. adversaries was misguided.
“He’s a businessman who relies more on common sense than he does on political orthodoxy,” Rubio said of Trump. “If you only meet with people that you agree with, then there are very nice meetings, but nothing happens.”
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