Russia Pleads for Biden to Invite Putin to APEC Summit

Biden will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November, an annual gathering of Indo-Pacific leaders that could include a much-anticipated meeting between the U.S. leader and Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping. Yet Putin appears to be on the receiving end of a maddening snub, as Biden’s team is poised to exclude foreign officials who have been slapped with sanctions, even a Kremlin chief who styles himself an heir to Czar Peter the Great.

“The U.S. has informed us through bilateral channels that this year they are not going to invite a number of leaders because of the sanctions restrictions that apply to them,” Berdyyev complained.

Putin has been choosy about what international events he attends in recent months. He was forced to make only a virtual appearance at the BRICS summit in South Africa because the host nation is treaty-bound to arrest him on behalf of the International Criminal Court if he enters in the country. Putin skipped the subsequent G20 summit in India, but he is expected to travel to China next month.

Biden’s stiff-arming of Putin coincides with another effort by Russian officials to come in from the diplomatic cold. Russian envoys are launching a campaign to win a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, a race decided by a vote of the U.N. General Assembly, even as U.N. officials continue to document allegations of widespread acts of torture and rape perpetrated by invading Russian forces in Ukraine. (Read more from “Russia Pleads for Biden to Invite Putin to APEC Summit” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.