Wait for official word on Russian participation in G20 Summit: Envoy Alipov

Days after it was announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be physically attending next month's G20 Summit in India, Russian envoy to India Denis Alipov on Monday said that the Presidential office will soon announce who will represent his country.

"This is obviously not my prerogative to make any announcement and statement as regards the presidential schedule. We have seen the Press Secretary who came on record as regards the Presidential schedule in connection with the G20," said Alipov.

"I would suggest that we wait for the official announcement that will be made by the presidential office. As regards his participation in the G20 and what format it will be, who is going to represent Russia at the summit, I think that such an announcement will be made shortly", Russia's ambassador to India said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had on Thursday told Russian media that Putin is not planning to attend the G20 Summit to be held under Indian presidency on September 9-10 in New Delhi and that the emphasis now is a "special military operation" indicating the conflict with Ukraine.

Putin had also skipped the recent summit of BRICS countries in South Africa and addressed the gathering via video link.

Meanwhile, Alipov hailed the "remarkable" expansion of the BRICS grouping at the recently concluded summit in Johannesburg and stated that the decisions taken towards strengthening the grouping are "important".

"The BRICS summit that has just included in South Africa has been a very remarkable one. The decisions taken are very important towards strengthening the BRICS as a grouping that aims towards an inclusive cooperation with everyone, which aims towards an equal cooperation with all the countries in the world," said the Russian envoy.

Alipov said that BRICS grouping reflects the desire of the member countries and of the future member countries towards a more open, multilateral, equal, inclusive world order.

"I would counter the viewpoint, according to which, some put the BRICS in a (similar) position to other major cooperation groups in the world like the G7 or even NATO. NATO is a military alliance, BRICS is not obviously," said Alipov.

"We have been very open and very forthcoming when we say that BRICS does not put itself in a position to any other country in particular or any other grouping particularly. It reflects the desire of the member countries and of the future member countries towards more open, multilateral, equal, inclusive world Order that would enhance the role of the developing world in world politics and in decision making on various issues of global importance," he said.

Putin had virtually participated in the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Summit in Johannesburg this week.

Argentina, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia will become members of the grouping in January 2024, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday during the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa's Johannesburg.

Speaking by video link to leaders of the group, the Russian President repeated the Kremlin narrative that his invasion, condemned by Ukraine and the West as an imperialist land grab, was a forced response by Russia to Kyiv's and Washington's hostile actions, as reported by Reuters.

"Our actions in Ukraine are dictated by only one thing - to end the war that was unleashed by the West and its satellites against the people who live in the Donbas," Putin said, referring to the eastern part of Ukraine where Russian proxies have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.