Russia delivered a blow to hopes of a breakthrough international deal on climate change when the Kremlin said on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin would not fly to Scotland for talks starting at the end of this month.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he would take part remotely, but the no-show by the leader of the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is the latest setback, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also uncertain to attend.