Invited Zelensky and Putin to attend the G20 Summit in November

Published on 04/29/2022 19:53

(Source: Mikhail Klimentyev / SPUTNIK / AFP – Handout / UkraINE PRESIDENCY / AFP)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Friday (April 29) that he has invited his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the G20 summit to be held in Bali in November, where Russian President Vladimir Putin She confirmed her participation.

“I invited President Zelensky to attend the G20 summit,” Widodo said, noting that an agreement was reached after pressure from Western countries to exclude Russia from the group in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

In these discussions, Jakarta justified that its position forced it to be “neutral”. Then the US President, Joe Biden, suggested Ukraine’s involvement to balance it out.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, Zelensky He said he received an invitation to attend the summit after a telephone conversation with the Indonesian president. The next day, Widodo also spoke with the Russian leader. “At that moment, President Putin thanked Indonesia for its invitation to the G20 summit and said he would participate,” the host country announced.

Today the United States criticized Putin’s attendance of the Bali summit. “You can’t pretend that nothing has happened regarding Russia’s participation within the international community and international institutions,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Galina Porter said.

Since the beginning of the Russian military attack on Ukraine in February, Western countries have tried to isolate Russia in the diplomatic sphere.