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Singapore: Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have shown their contempt for Moscow in a range of ways beyond just words when they’ve come face-to-face with Russian counterparts.
There have been staged walkouts and chairs turned around when Russians had addressed G20 and other multilateral events, as well as using more subtle snubbing tactics, such as returning late from a coffee break when the Kremlin’s representative was due to speak just after it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in Bali for the G20 summit.Credit:James Brickwood
At times Australians have been involved, among them Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, who walked out on Russia's Sergei Lavrov at the East Asia summit for foreign ministers in Cambodia in August in protest at his attempts to justify the bloodshed in Ukraine.
Now, as leaders of the world’s largest economies prepare to attend the G20 leaders summit in Bali on Tuesday, the European Union and Britain have been encouraging a co-ordinated protest when Lavrov or Putin himself – via video link from Moscow – takes the microphone on the island.
If they do pack up and leave, though, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won’t be in tow.
Albanese made clear his view of Putin’s aggression at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, denouncing Russia’s actions and their human consequences. A similar message can be expected in Bali and he has indicated he will steer clear of Lavrov, who is there in Putin’s place.
Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov will attend the G20.Credit:James Brickwood
Albanese is mindful, however, of the wishes of near neighbour Indonesia, whose leader Joko Widodo has called on attendees at the summit to “exercise restraint”, hoping its post-pandemic economic agenda will not be railroaded by war and geopolitics.
The Australian government has prioritised improving ties with Indonesia, as well as engaging more deeply with south-east Asia, a region of high strategic importance amid increasing Chinese assertiveness and Beijing’s rivalry with the United States.
In the context of that effort, Albanese’s approach at the G20 was the right way to go, said Susannah Patton, the South-East Asia program director at the Lowy Institute.
“Australia does not need to walk out of the G20 to show that it condemns Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” she said. “As a close neighbour and partner to Indonesia, it is understandable if Albanese chooses to support President [Joko] Widodo as chair rather than walk out. Widodo has invested a great deal personally in trying to chair the G20 successfully and Australia should do everything it can to support this.”
There were no such walkouts at the ASEAN-related summit over the weekend in Phnom Penh, where Albanese, US President Joe Biden and other leaders clinked champagne glasses with Cambodian host Hun Sen at a gala dinner at which Lavrov was also present.
But there was far from harmony in Cambodia when it came to Russia, with leaders refraining from posing for the customary group photograph, and more of the same is likely at the G20.
Widodo is eager for G20 nations to sign off on a joint communique to be released after the two-day gathering in Bali’s southern Nusa Dua district so that it might be deemed a success. Countries have been struggling, however, to reach a consensus on its wording. Most have argued the impact of Putin’s war in Ukraine must be mentioned but China and Russia have been holding out, refusing to agree on such an inclusion.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who is accompanying Biden to Bali, said he was still hopeful a statement could be agreed to.
“When we look at the G20 context, I think you’ll see intensive work over the next 24 to 48 hours, with good faith on the part of the United States and our G7 partners, to produce a joint statement or a communique,” he said.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to take part in the summit virtually after being invited by Indonesia, Russia is also adamant that the G20 should concentrate on global economic issues as it was established to do.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement it was “fundamentally important that the G20 concentrate its efforts on real, rather than imaginary, threats”.
After meeting Biden in Bali on Monday, Widodo said he hoped the summit “can produce concrete co-operation that can help the global economy recover”.
With Bloomberg
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