Foreign Ministry: The United States decided not to invite Putin to the APEC summit

The United States informed Russia that it does not plan to invite several leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. This was announced by the Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, a senior official at APEC, Marat Berdyev, transmits “RIA News”.

“The United States informed us through bilateral channels that they are not going to invite a number of leaders this year due to the fact that sanctions restrictions apply to them,” he said.

Berdyev noted that the Russian side continues to interact with Washington in order to get it to fulfill its obligations as the host country. According to the diplomat, he again sent a request calling for Putin to be invited to the summit. The ambassador added that the decision not to extend an invitation to the Russian leader demonstrates the “bad faith of the American side” and the “politicization of a purely economic forum.”

In mid-August, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov reportedthat the United States denied the Russian delegation visas for APEC events. He called the situation “extremely negative” and noted the “unacceptability of Washington’s actions.”

At the end of July, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was not waiting for Putin’s invitation to the APEC summit. “This has not been discussed yet. But we certainly won’t wait for this invitation,” said He.

The APEC summit will be held this year from November 11 to 17 in San Francisco. The forum includes 19 countries and 2 territories, including Russia, China, USA, Japan, Canada, etc.