NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit in New Delhi in September. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit India in Putin's absence. He informed about this in a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is reported that the two discussed bilateral and global regional issues in the phone conversation.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said earlier that Putin would not attend the G20 summit in person, but it was unclear whether he would attend it online. Putin did not attend last week's BRICS summit in South Africa due to fears of arrest due to an International Criminal Court warrant over the Ukraine invasion, but Putin does not face an arrest threat in India because he has not signed the International Criminal Court treaty.

Putin had not attended the G20 summit held in Bali, Indonesia last year as well. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was the one who attended on his behalf.