The Wall Street Journal has torched Donald Trump’s invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G-20 summit that will be hosted at his Trump National Doral club in Miami, Florida, in December, calling the move “morally offensive.”
The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper’s conservative editorial board slammed Trump for extending the invitation “even as Western intelligence services warn that Russia is escalating its hybrid war against NATO countries,” and as Putin’s devastating war on Ukraine continues.
Putin’s attendance would amount to “a photo-op to show Russians that he’s no longer a pariah on the world stage” and “a global rehabilitation gift even as the Russian public grows tired of the war,” the board wrote.
It warned the invitation may even lead Putin to believe “he could get away with a targeted attack on NATO.”
The board also dismissed the possibility that restoring Putin to the global stage could encourage him to end the war in Ukraine. It argued that Trump merely looked “like a chump” following his 2025 summit with Putin in Alaska, after which the conflict continued.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, however, has argued that Putin’s attendance could provide an opportunity to kick-start “serious negotiations” aimed at ending the conflict.