A bipartisan group of senators is pressing President Donald Trump to withdraw Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the G20 summit later this year in Miami.
The 13 senators, including six Republicans, warned that welcoming Putin to the United States would give him “stature and legitimacy” while Russia continues its war in Ukraine.
“We urge you to reverse course and rescind the invitation to President Putin,” the senators wrote.
The letter was signed by Republican Sens. Roger Wicker (Mississippi), John Cornyn (Texas), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), John Curtis (Utah), Jerry Moran (Kansas) and Alan Armstrong (Oklahoma), and Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Michael Bennet (Colorado), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Chris Coons (Delaware), Ruben Gallego (Arizona), Tim Kaine (Virginia) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island). Wicker chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, while Shaheen is the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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The senators also called on the administration to bar other sanctioned Russian officials from upcoming G20 meetings until Russia agrees to what they called a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
The G20 leaders’ summit is scheduled for Dec. 14-15 in Miami.
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly confirmed the invitation Wednesday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Rubio said the summit would give Putin an opportunity to engage with Trump and other world leaders.
The letter comes days after Trump signed into law the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, giving the administration new tools to increase economic pressure on Moscow.
The senators praised Trump for signing the law but questioned whether inviting Putin to a major international summit undercuts that pressure.
“If President Putin and his government are not isolated on the international stage, what incentive does Russia have to agree to a ceasefire?” they wrote.
The senators also objected to other Russian officials having attended G20 meetings in the U.S. earlier this year.
They pointed to sanctioned Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov’s participation in a finance ministers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, along with Russian delegations at meetings in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Houston.
Putin and Siluanov are both sanctioned under Executive Order 14024, which targets harmful Russian foreign activities. The senators argued that allowing sanctioned Russian officials into U.S.-hosted G20 events gives Moscow “business-as-usual treatment” while the war continues.
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