Putin Likely to Attend Climate Summit in Late This Month

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a video conference on expanding domestic vaccine production at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence on the outskirts of Moscow on the 22nd of last month (local time).

According to foreign media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the virtual climate summit scheduled for the 22nd and 23rd, which was proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Major foreign media outlets cited two Kremlin officials who requested anonymity on the 6th (local time), reporting that although Putin's attendance at the climate summit has not been finalized, the Kremlin is preparing a speech for President Putin.

President Biden, who declared his return to the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, planned to convene a virtual climate summit on the 22nd to coincide with Earth Day, and sent invitations last month on the 26th to leaders of 40 countries including South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia.

However, amid recent tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the crackdown on Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, President Putin's attendance at the summit has become a point of interest.

In an interview with ABC News on the 17th of last month, President Biden was asked if he considered President Putin a murderer for attempting to poison Navalny, to which he replied, "Yes," prompting a strong backlash from President Putin, who proposed a live televised debate.

Additionally, the Biden administration has announced plans to impose sanctions on Russia related to the Navalny poisoning attempt and hacking incidents targeting U.S. software companies.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Bloomberg's question regarding President Putin's attendance at the climate summit.

However, last month, spokesperson Peskov stated, "Russia is a party to the Paris Agreement, and President Putin is interested in climate issues."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.