MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a recorded message to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, the Kremlin said on Monday, but there are no arrangements for the leader of the world’s no. 4 greenhouse gas emitter to address the summit live.
Russia announced on Oct. 20 that Putin would not attend in person. His absence, and that of China’s President Xi Jinping, were widely seen as dealing a blow to prospects of a breakthrough at the talks.
Moscow said at the time it would try to work out a way for Putin to speak by video conference, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday this would not be feasible.
“It is impossible to join (the meetings) in Glasgow through a video conference,” Peskov told reporters. “Still, a conference on forestry and land use management will be held in Glasgow as part of the climate change summit, and the president has already recorded an address to the participants of that conference.”
Peskov said Putin had addressed climate-related issues at the G20 summit at the weekend, in which he took part by video link.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Janet Lawrence)
