US does not invite President Putin to attend APEC Summit

The United States, through bilateral channels, has announced that Washington will not invite a number of Russian leaders to attend the APEC Summit in San Francisco, said Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador Marat Berdyev and a senior official at APEC.

“The United States has informed us through bilateral channels that they will not invite a number of Russian leaders to this year's summit, due to restrictions imposed on individual individuals,” Ambassador Marat Berdyev said.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had not yet made any decision on President Vladimir Putin's possible participation in the APEC summit.

Ambassador Marat Berdyev added that Russia will continue to cooperate with the United States so that Washington can fulfill its obligations as the host of the event. The Russian diplomat stressed that the US decision not to invite President Putin to the APEC Summit demonstrates “dishonesty on the part of the United States” and “persistence in a confrontational approach to issues of multilateral economic cooperation, politicizing a purely economic forum.”

Ambassador Berdyev also noted that the United States is using its rotating APEC chairmanship to create serious obstacles to Russia's full participation in the organization's work.

APEC is a trade and economic forum of 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This year's summit takes place from November 11 to 17 in San Francisco (USA).