BUENOS AIRES. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Buenos Aires, where the G20 summit is due to open on Friday.
Putin has a very tight schedule in Argentina. His engagements at the summit are planned down to the minute.
He will attend three sessions of the G20 summit, at which he will outline his position on the escalation of trade wars, unilateral economic restrictions, other countries' protectionism, and reform of the World Trade Organization, among other things. He will also attend two informal BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summits and the RIC Forum (Russian, India, and China) and will hold a series of bilateral meetings, the highlight of which was supposed to be a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump announced on Twitter less than 24 hours before the beginning of the summit that he had decided to cancel his talks with Putin after studying reports about the Kerch Strait incident.
Putin is expected to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over breakfast and hold meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Important results for the global oil market are expected from Putin's meeting with the Saudi crown prince.
The Russian president is also expected to hold "standing talks" with some other leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a concert and reception hosted by President of Argentina Mauricio Macri on Friday evening.
When the G20 summit ends on Saturday, Putin will start his official visit to Argentina, during which he will hold talks with Macri. A series of bilateral documents will be signed.
The president will return to Russia on Sunday.