Vladimir Putin accepts Thailand's invitation to attend APEC summit next month: Report

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Thailand’s invitation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which is scheduled to be held next month in Bangkok. Putin’s attendance was confirmed by Bangkok Post, which cited an anonymous security source. 

The source said that the Foreign Ministry has alerted security agencies to begin setting up arrangements for the meeting. As per the unnamed security source, Chinese President Xi Jinping is yet to confirm his participation, and US President Joe Biden will likely miss the summit due to personal commitments and send a delegate instead. 

APEC, G20 summits set to be held in November

The month of November will witness the G20 and APEC summits kick off in Southeast Asia. According to reports, Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Joe Biden, and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to hold talks at the G20 summit in Bali on November 15 and 16. On the other hand, the APEC summit will be held two days later, on 18 and 19 November. 

Husin Bagis, Indonesia’s ambassador to the UAE, said in an exclusive interview with The National, that the “situation isn’t easy because of the Ukraine-Russia war.” “We are deciding which hotels to put them up in ― one for Mr Putin and one for Mr Zelenskyy,” he said while talking about the logistics involved. “Indonesia is different than other countries. Everything is peaceful in my country,” Bagis said. 

Russia says open to negotiation talks with the West

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview telecasted on state television that Moscow is open to holding talks with the West but has not received any “serious offers” so far. He further claimed that several US officials including White House national security spokesperson John Kirby lied that the Kremlin rejected negotiation talks about the Russia-Ukraine war. 

“This is a lie. We have not received any serious offers to make contact. We have repeatedly said that we never refuse meetings. If there is a proposal, then we will consider it,” he said. "It seems to me that the Americans have been participating de facto in this war for a long time. This war is being controlled by the Anglo-Saxons,” Lavrov added, as reported by The Guardian.