Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the G20 summit in Manchester, citing outstanding sanctions against senior Russian figures.
Asked whether Putin would attend the annual meeting, which the UK is hosting in November 2027, Burnham said "no." He told The Economist that Putin "will not be coming because of an outstanding sanction" on senior Russian figures.
The UK has maintained a longstanding policy against direct bilateral engagement with Russian ministers since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Putin has not attended any major global summit since launching the invasion.
Russia remains a member of the G20, a group of 19 nations, the European Union and the African Union. Ukraine is not a member, but the ongoing war has loomed large over recent summits.
The announcement contrasts with a decision by US President Donald Trump, who has invited Putin to this year's G20, which he will host in Miami in December. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed whether Putin will attend.
Burnham also said the Manchester summit would provide "a real opportunity" to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on safety regulations for artificial intelligence. Pressed on whether the UK could bring the US and China to the same table to agree on global AI oversight, he said: "As I sit here today, that feels challenging, but we've got to hold out the need to find global agreements on AI. If we don't, the risks of recent times will magnify, they will significantly intensify. So you've got to go into it with that aim."
His decision not to invite Putin follows tensions at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in October, where European diplomats refused to stand for an official photo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The traditional group photograph, which would normally include representatives from all attending nations, was cancelled.
The US decision to invite Lavrov to that meeting had itself drawn criticism, coming amid public disputes between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At the foreign ministers' summit, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband addressed Lavrov directly, saying: "Let me say this directly to the Russian foreign minister: We all know who the aggressor in this war is."
The UK last hosted the G20 in 2009. The 2027 event will be held over two days at the Manchester Central Convention Centre and is expected to host thousands of diplomats, delegates and world leaders.
The government has said it will use its G20 presidency to "reinforce global economic stability" and "benefit people in every part of the UK."
