Burnham rules out Putin attending Manchester G20 summit amid sanctions

Andy Burnham has ruled out Vladimir Putin attending the G20 leaders’ summit in Manchester in November 2027, citing UK sanctions against senior figures in Russia’s administration. The decision follows criticism of earlier plans to invite a Russian delegation and reflects the diplomatic tensions created by Russia’s continued membership of the G20 despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Burnham said invitations are technically handled by the G20, but that Putin would not attend because sanctions remain in force. Russia was removed from the G8, now the G7, in 2014 after annexing Crimea, but remains in the G20. At a recent G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, European representatives refused to stand beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a group photograph, which was subsequently cancelled.