Russia's President Vladimir Putin will not go to the COP26 United Nations climate summit next month, Moscow announced on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "Unfortunately Putin will not fly to Glasgow." But stressed that climate change was "one of our [Russia's] most important priorities." Peskov said Russia would be represented at the summit but details of how that will happen would be released at a later date.

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The announcement comes as the UK stressed the importance of the presence of national leaders at the summit. COP26 in the Scottish city of Glasgow has been called humanity's "last best chance" to get devastating climate change under control.

Putin's withdrawal comes amid uncertainty as to whether China's President Xi Jinping will attend. If China's leader is not in attendance, the country will be represented by veteran climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, who already held preliminary talks with UK politician Alok Sharma, who is hosting the talks, and U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry. There are also questions over whether India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present. 

If Putin joins this list it could mean three of the world's four biggest greenhouse gas emitters will not be represented by their political leaders at the conference.

So far, more than 120 leaders have confirmed their attendance at COP26, which is being held by the UK in partnership with Italy. 

The UK's Queen Elizabeth II is still due to attend the COP26 conference, despite a recent trip to Northern Ireland being canceled after the monarch "reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days."

However, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also implied he might not be there, citing COVID-19 restrictions as a reason for not traveling to Scotland. 

Another notable absence from COP26 might also be Pope Francis, as the Vatican delegation is currently being led by secretary of state Cardinal Pietro. 

Taking place between October 31 and November 12, the gathering will be the biggest climate conference conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015. The event is considered a crucial step in setting worldwide emission targets to slow global warming. 

In addition to the speeches, roundtable meetings and events, campaign groups such as Extinction Rebellion are expected to be at the talks keeping the pressure on world leaders.