The US does not expect Putin to attend the APEC summit – State Department

US authorities do not expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to take part in the November APEC summit in San Francisco, RIA Novosti quotes a statement from the US State Department.

US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US “will abide by its obligations as a host” but will also comply with “its sanctions rules and regulations when sending out invitations.” He also noted that he would be very surprised if Putin wanted to attend the event.

Earlier, Marat Berdyev, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the United States of America conveyed to the Russian Federation through bilateral channels that it would not invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the APEC summit. According to him, US representatives said that they would not invite a number of leaders of other countries to the summit this year, since sanctions restrictions apply to them.

Moscow sent a request to the United States calling on it to fulfill its duties as the APEC chairman state and invite the Russian leader. Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the Russian Federation still has not received an official invitation from Washington, and added that the American administration does not give a clear answer and in fact is “evading conscientious performance of the functions of the APEC chairman.”