U.K’s Andy Burnham has ruled out Vladimir Putin attending next year’s G20 summit in Manchester.
The Prime Minister is due to host leaders of the world’s largest economies in the city where he was previously mayor in November 2027.
But he has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the G20 summit in November 2027.
Burnham had previously faced a backlash over plans to invite the Russian tyrant to send a delegation next year despite the continuing conflict.
The prospect of a Russian invitation was said to be causing disquiet within Whitehall.
But insiders said the Government had no choice as there was no consensus on expelling Russia from the G20.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has invited Mr Putin to attend this year’s G20 summit in Miami next month.
Trump’s administration has expressed its hope that the Russian tyrant will accept the invitation in order to ‘engage’ with other world leaders.
Russia was previously expelled from the G8 – now the G7 – in 2014 in response to its annexation of Crimea.
But the country remains a member of the G20 despite continued Western efforts to isolate Putin’s regime.
Burnham gave a blunt ‘no’ during an interview with The Economist, ruling out Putin’s attendance, and added ‘There are sanctions against leading figures in the administration.
‘And there’s some technicalities about invites, because I think they’re handled by the G20 rather than by Britain, I think I’ve got that right.
‘So, if I maybe rephrase it, technically, but will not be coming because of an outstanding sanction.’
A planned ‘family photo’ at a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta last week was cancelled due to European representatives – including Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband – refusing to stand next to Russia’s Sergei Lavrov.
