We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.
Singapore: Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit in Bali next week but could still appear by video link at the conference of world leaders.
Jodi Mahardi, the spokesman for Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment affairs Luhut Pandjaitan, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the Russian president had decided not to make the trip to the Indonesian island and would send his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov in his place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech on foreign policy last month in Moscow.Credit:AP
There are still plans in Jakarta, however, for Putin to be involved at the summit which 17 leaders including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, United States President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will attend.
“[We do] appreciate [that he] sends the Russian foreign minister,” Mahardi said. “It is still planned that President Putin will participate at one of the G20 sessions.”
He said he could not go into detail about which session Putin may join by video link.
Indonesia, which holds the G20 presidency this year, has scheduled discussions on food and energy security, health and digital transformation at the two-day forum next Tuesday and Wednesday, but talks are expected to be overshadowed by anger over the Russian war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to attend the summit virtually after accepting an invitation to join the meetings.
Joko Widodo will welcome world and business leaders to the G20 summit in Bali on November 15-16.Credit:Bloomberg
In a statement earlier this week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he had spoken to Putin and Zelensky by phone and they had told him they could only come “if conditions allowed”.
The deepening conflict brought on by Russia’s aggression has ruled that out but after playing peacemaker with visits to Kyiv and Moscow in July, Widodo is eager for Indonesia’s moment in the sun not to descend into a war of words.
“All parties must exercise restraint. Avoid confrontation and respect all agreements that have been made,” he told The Jakarta Post.
He said he anticipated the summit would be attended by 17 heads of state and government, which in the turbulent global landscape would be a “very good” result.
Whether the leaders present can reach a consensus on a joint communiqué, as is the custom at such multilateral events, is highly doubtful.
There have been walkouts by Western officials at G20 ministerial-level meetings and other events this year including by Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who stepped out of the East Asia foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia in August in protest at Russian counterpart Lavrov’s “attempt to justify the murder of innocent Ukrainians”.
“This is a complicated thing because it takes all members to agree,” said Wahid Supriyadi, who was Indonesia’s ambassador to Russia between 2016 and 2020.
“But we can understand it under the current conditions. Perhaps the best thing they can do is a chair’s statement. If a joint communiqué is not achieved we cannot say it is Indonesia’s failure because it is about great powers.”
The gathering will also offer an opportunity for a flurry of bilateral meetings.
Albanese has said he is open to meeting with Xi as Australia seeks to improve relations with Beijing and a potential first in-person meeting between Biden and the Chinese president is also on the cards.
Albanese is set to speak in Bali on Monday at the Business 20 meeting of investors.
Leaders are also scheduled to attend a gala dinner and lunches during the summit in Bali’s southern Nusa Dua area, which has been locked down for the duration with more than 18,000 troops and police officers on guard.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
Copyright © 2022