After months of signaling his possible physical appearance amongst world leaders at the G20 Summit this month in Bali, it has finally been confirmed that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not fly to the Island of Gods after all. The no-show confirmation was soon followed by an announcement that Ukraine’s President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend the summit either.
Reuters reported that Russia will instead send Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov as President Putin’s representative. An official of the Embassy of Russia in Indonesia also confirmed that Putin will not fly to Bali to attend the summit, but did not provide further details.
While Putin will not physically appear at the G20 Summit, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Ministry spokesperson Jodi Mahardi said separately that the Russian leader is scheduled to virtually appear in one of the summit’s sessions.
Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukraine will not participate in the G20 Summit if Putin attends. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said today that, despite Putin’s confirmed absence, Zelenskky will not attend the summit as he has to tend to more pressing matters domestically.
That’s not to say that Zelenskyy will not attend the summit in any capacity. Speaking to Coconuts today, Ukraine’s ambassador to Indonesia Vasyl Hamianin said that Zelenskyy may yet attend the summit in person, failing which the president will appear virtually.
Hosting nation Indonesia has been facing pressure from other nations on Putin’s possible attendance of the summit amid his country’s invasion of Ukraine. On the other hand, Indonesia, in its first ever G20 presidency, had been hoping that the summit, scheduled for Nov. 15 and 16 in Nusa Dua, can usher in peace between warring Ukraine and Russia.
President Joko Widodo’s administration has been careful not to explicitly take sides in the conflict. In fact, he was the first Asian leader to meet with both Putin and Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy – albeit separately – since the conflict began earlier this year in an effort to start peace talks between the two countries.
