Foreign Ministry: Russia will take part in the APEC forum upon receipt of an invitation from the United States

Russia will take part in the activities of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the United States next year if it receives an invitation from Washington. Andrey Rudenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, spoke about this on the sidelines of the XIII Asian Conference of the Valdai International Discussion Club, transmits TASS.

“I am not sure that the United States will fulfill all of its obligations as the host country of such events. But at least they said so. If we follow this principle, then we are ready to take part in all activities in the United States,” he said.

Earlier, Washington’s representative to APEC Matt Murray said that the United States, being “good stewards” of the summit, would invite Moscow to participate in the forum’s meetings, Reuters reported.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov after that emphasizedthat the United States has not yet taken any official action in connection with the invitation of Russia.

In May, at a meeting of APEC trade ministers, representatives from Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand left the meeting during a speech by Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov in protest against a special military operation in Ukraine. Russian delegation on the same day enrolled similarly during the speech of US Representative Katherine Tai.

This year, the APEC summit at the level of country leaders and heads of delegations was held on November 18-19 in the Thai capital of Bangkok, the Russian delegation was headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov. Next year the summit will be held in San Francisco.