The next G20 summit will be in Brisbane, Australia this November, and heated debates about Russian participation in it have made the headlines. How do controversies about the G20 and Russia affect the world political agenda?

Over the past decades, the number of leading players has increased in the international relations system. The global landscape has become multilayered and more complicated. The G7 became the G8 as a result of Russia's recognition in world politics.

Last decade, the rise of a number of Asian states demonstrated that Western countries and the US in particular were not able to shape the world agenda and resolve the most urgent social and economic issues alone.

The format of the G8 had become too narrow. A new format was needed which could give an opportunity to fast developing nations to articulate their needs and proposals; thus the G20 was born.

One of the examples of the continuity of the G20 is the Muskoka Initiative approved at the G8 summit in 2010 and developed by the G20.

The Muskoka Initiative paved the way for a wide program to reduce infant mortality. There is a difference between the G8 and the G20. Unlike the G8, the G20 focuses on mostly economic issues. The coming summit will focus on taxation. World leaders will reach a consensus on a global approach to fight tax avoidance and to promote investment.

So why are some Western nations, encouraged by the US, trying to exclude Russia from the G20 summit? The official reason is to punish Russia for its alleged incitement of the Ukrainian conflict.

However, after the signing of the Minsk agreement, violence has abated in eastern Ukraine. Russia was an active participant in the peace process started in Minsk, and has made a crucial contribution to stop the fighting. But the attempts to leave out Russia from the G20 summit continue, with some leaders calling for a boycott of Russia at the G20 summit. There is a long-term goal behind this desire.

The dispute is not only about the Ukraine issue. The intention is to discredit Russia as a reliable partner, to weaken it and to benefit from the situation.

The West does not need Russia as a strong and equal competitor. Its grand strategy is to give Russia a push in the direction which suits the Western community. That is to keep Russia as a supplier of energy resources to the West and use its huge market for the consumption of Western-made goods and services.

The efforts of some Western members of the G20 to block Russian participation in the summit are not likely to work out.

First, the G20 does not have a mechanism to expel a member. Second, the G20 operates based on consensus, and there is no unanimity on this score in the G20. These sort of anti-Russian steps will lead to a diplomatic scandal.

The overriding purpose of the G20 is to deal with economic problems while keeping away from geopolitical ones. Any attempt to raise geopolitical issues will prevent the members from resolving topical economic issues.

Another purpose of the G20 is to balance the sometimes divergent interests of great and regional players in the context of a newly multipolar economic world.

The G20 is significant, as its states comprise 80 percent of world trade and more than 85 percent of world GDP. A successful G20 summit may ease geopolitical tension and reduce risks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will do his best to make the G20 summit effective. He will try to soften the consequences of the sanctions imposed by the West.

Besides being a G20 member, Russia also belongs to BRICS and is a leading energy supplier, so it plays a considerable role in the world politics and economics.

If the G20 does not want to shoot itself in the foot, the common interest of all participants should be not to punish Russia but to focus on burning economic issues.

The author is chair of the Political Science Department at the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow.