Rubio Confirms Trump Invited Putin to G20 Summit in Miami

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Sept. 23, 2026 that President Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit at Trump National Doral in Miami on Dec. 14-15, after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the U.N. General Assembly. Rubio said the U.S. hopes Putin accepts, calling it "an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders." If Putin attends, it would be his first visit to the continental United States since 2015, when he met President Obama at the U.N.

The invitation would require the administration to navigate sanctions imposed on Putin personally after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine; the Treasury Department temporarily authorized otherwise-prohibited transactions for Trump and Putin's August 2025 Alaska summit and would likely need to do so again. Fourteen senators, led by Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, have urged Trump to rescind the invitation, arguing it legitimizes Putin without any change in his conduct of the war in Ukraine.

Russia has not confirmed Putin will attend. The Kremlin has said he "may or may not" make the trip and could send another representative instead.