MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the online APEC summit on November 20, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

"Yes, the president will take part in the summit," he said in reply to a question.

Earlier, the APEC Secretariat said that this year would see the first-ever virtual summit of the 21 leading APEC economies. Earlier on Wednesday there were rumors that President Donald Trump might lead the US delegation at this event, Reuters said citing a US administration official. The White House has not yet officially confirmed this to TASS.

APEC includes 19 countries. Among them there are 12 founding states (Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the US, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea and Japan), as well as China (joined in 1991), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), and Russia, Vietnam and Peru (1998). In 1991, two Chinese territories also joined the APEC - Xianggang (Hong Kong) and Taiwan.