British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be invited to next year's G20 summit in Britain, Reuters reported on Thursday, November 5, citing The Economist. When the newspaper asked whether Putin would be invited, Burnham said: "No."

Source: Reuters

Burnham's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported. The Kremlin has not reacted publicly to the statement in the reporting so far.

Manchester hosts, a year from now

Next year's annual G20 summit will be held in November in the city of Manchester, in northwestern England — the region where Burnham was previously mayor before becoming prime minister. As host nation, Britain controls the guest list, and Burnham's answer shuts the door on a Putin appearance there while Russia's war in Ukraine continues.

The opposite choice in Miami

The decision contrasts sharply with the United States' approach this year. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in September that Washington had invited Putin to a G20 meeting in Miami in December, saying it would give Putin an opportunity to engage with President Donald Trump and other world leaders, Reuters reported.

That split — an invitation in Miami in December, an explicit refusal for Manchester next November — underlines how differently the two closest Western allies are now handling Russia's leader: Washington betting on direct engagement, London on continued isolation while the war goes on.

What happens next: attention turns to the Miami meeting in December and whether Putin attends, and to how other G20 members react to Britain's guest-list decision in the months before Manchester. No formal G20 invitation list for the Manchester summit has been published yet.