WARSAW, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to a December G20 meeting in Miami, Florida may encourage Moscow to continue its aggression towards Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that he hoped Putin would accept the invitation and that it would give him the chance to engage with President Donald Trump and other world leaders.
“If inviting Putin to the G20 could bring us closer to a just peace, I would be absolutely in favour of it,” Tusk told a news conference.
“However – and this is both my concern and what my experience tells me – at this stage, Russia might well view it as an encouragement to continue its aggressive policies. That is what I fear.”
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia would consider the invitation.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
