Bipartisan group of senators urge Trump to disinvite Putin from G-20

A group of 14 senators from both parties sent President Donald Trump a letter Thursday night asking him to withdraw Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to the Group of 20 summit set for Miami this December. The senators, led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, warned that hosting Putin would legitimize a government they say continues attacking Ukrainian civilians daily. Their letter, shared exclusively with The Washington Post, was also signed by six other Democrats and six other Republicans.

The lawmakers placed full blame on Putin for starting the war against Ukraine and argued that including him in the summit could remove any incentive he has to pursue a ceasefire, since isolation from the international community might otherwise pressure him toward one. They also pointed out that Putin, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and other members of the Russian delegation face U.S. sanctions tied to conduct viewed as a national security threat.

The invitation had been confirmed publicly on Wednesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described it as a way for Putin to meet other heads of state, not only Trump. The senators' letter follows tension from Siluanov's appearance last month at a G-20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, which caught other attendees off guard and angered European Union officials, who pushed to exclude him from the group's official photo.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Washington Post’s reporting. Read the full story at The Washington Post →