Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday (June 29) warned his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, who is visiting kyiv, that his participation in the G20 summit in his country in November would depend “the security situation in Ukraine and the composition of the members of the summit“.
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He did not mention Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, but the latter’s participation, invited by Indonesia, is the subject of intense diplomatic controversy, with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi saying it was “excludedin the context of the invasion of Ukraine, while the Kremlin maintains that the invitation has been accepted. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his counterpart in front of the press for “the personal invitationthat he addressed to him, while Ukraine is not a member of the G20. “Certainly, I accept the invitation. Ukraine’s participation will depend on the security situation in the country and the compositionfrom the top, he said.
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Indonesia, which chairs the G20 this year and takes a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, invited Putin before the invasion began and when it began, resisted pressure from several countries Westerners, including the United States, to rescind this invitation. These pressures resulted in the invitation of Volodymyr Zelensky by Joko Widodo for a summit scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Bali. Mario Draghi claimed on Tuesday that Joko Widodo had “excludedthe physical presence of Vladimir Putin, suggesting that he could still participate by videoconference. The Kremlin quickly denied this announcement: “It is not Mario Draghi who decides in the matter“, declared a presidential adviser, Yuri Ouchakov, quoted by the Russian agency Interfax. “We received the invitation and we gave a positive response“. The Indonesian president is due to meet Mr. Putin on Thursday in Moscow.
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