Putin won't attend G20 summit in Bali

(UPDATED) JAKARTA: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit in southern Indonesia next week, a government official said on Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and other world leaders will attend the two-day summit in the archipelago's island resort of Bali that starts on November 15. The summit was to have been the first time the American and Russian leaders would have been together at a gathering since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24.