Russian President Vladimir Putin wants an invitation to an international economic summit, but President Joe Biden controls the guest list.
"I, as a senior official of the Russian Federation, actively engage with them and have once again sent a request calling for an invitation to the Russian leader,” Russian Ambassador Marat Berdyyev told state media.
CORY BOOKER CALLS ON NEW JERSEY COLLEAGUE MENENDEZ TO RESIGN AMID INDICTMENT UPROAR
Biden will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November, an annual gathering of Indo-Pacific leaders that could include a much-anticipated meeting between the U.S. leader and Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping. Yet Putin appears to be on the receiving end of a maddening snub, as Biden’s team is poised to exclude foreign officials who have been slapped with sanctions, even a Kremlin chief who styles himself an heir to Czar Peter the Great.
“The U.S. has informed us through bilateral channels that this year they are not going to invite a number of leaders because of the sanctions restrictions that apply to them,” Berdyyev complained.
Putin has been choosy about what international events he attends in recent months. He was forced to make only a virtual appearance at the BRICS summit in South Africa because the host nation is treaty-bound to arrest him on behalf of the International Criminal Court if he enters in the country. Putin skipped the subsequent G20 summit in India, but he is expected to travel to China next month.
Biden's stiff-arming of Putin coincides with another effort by Russian officials to come in from the diplomatic cold. Russian envoys are launching a campaign to win a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, a race decided by a vote of the U.N. General Assembly, even as U.N. officials continue to document allegations of widespread acts of torture and rape perpetrated by invading Russian forces in Ukraine.
“Russian soldiers raped and committed sexual violence against women of ages ranging from 19 to 83 years,” former Norwegian judge Erik Mose, who chairs the United Nation’s independent commission of inquiry on Ukraine, told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday. “Frequently, family members were kept in an adjacent room, thereby forced to hear the violations taking place.”
Russia was suspended from that panel last year on a 93-24 vote (with 58 abstentions) days after the discovery of the massacres apparently committed by Russian troops in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs during Putin’s failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital. Russian officials are trying to avoid finishing last in a three-country race for two seats; the other two candidates are Albania and Bulgaria, a pair of NATO allies.
“We’ve seen Russia commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday. “We’ve made clear that there needs to be accountability for those crimes that they have committed, and so certainly I think representation on a body devoted to human rights is not consistent with their actions in Ukraine.”
China, which voted against Russia’s suspension from the human rights panel, provided indirect support on Tuesday for Moscow’s plea for an invitation to the APEC summit
.
“We should ... oppose advocating for ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’ and imposing our own values and models on others,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday. "Of course, we and all parties hope that the United States will recognize its responsibility as the host, demonstrate openness, fairness, inclusiveness, and responsibility, and create better conditions for the smooth holding of the meeting.”
China has its own dog in the fight, as the communist regime’s point-man in Hong Kong was sanctioned in 2020 for his role in the crackdown on Hong Kong protesters who opposed Beijing’s plan to tighten control over the former British colony.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“According to APEC guidelines and protocol, the organizer should send an invitation to the leader of the respective economies,” Lee said this week. “I am still waiting for the invitation letter to be sent to me.”
Biden’s team dismissed such procedural arguments earlier this year. “We’re looking forward to the participation of all APEC member delegations in accordance with U.S. laws and regulations,” a White House spokesman said in July.