Live: Russia says Putin plans to attend G-20 despite talk of exclusion

Live news updates: President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the Group of 20 summit hosted by Indonesia in the fourth quarter, Russia’s envoy to the Southeast Asian country said, brushing off talk of excluding him due to the war in Ukraine. 

Russia appreciates Indonesia not bowing to pressure to shift the G-20’s focus away from economic recovery, Ambassador Lyudmila Vorobieva said at a briefing Wednesday in Jakarta. 

Her announcement came a day after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a discussion over whether Russia should be excluded from the grouping of major economies, as the West strives to turn Putin and his government into international pariahs in response to his invasion of Ukraine. However, China signaled it stands by Russia’s continued G-20 membership, saying the bloc needs to work together on issues from global economic growth to recovery from the pandemic, Bloomberg reported.

US President Joe Biden has arrived in Brussels for meetings of the alliance, G7 and EU over a conflict that began on February 24 and has caused more than 3.6 million refugees to flee the country.