Indonesian President and G20 Chairman Joko Widodo yesterday set off to Europe where he said he plans to visit Russia and Ukraine and meet with the countries’ leaders to urge peace talks.
Widodo departed for Germany to attend the G7 summit as a guest yesterday and today, after which he plans to go to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“The mission is to ask ... President Zelenskiy to open a dialogue forum for peace, to build peace because the war has to be stopped,” Widodo told a news conference in Jakarta.
Photo: Reuters
The two leaders would also discuss the food supply chain “that needs to be reactivated” soon, Widodo said.
After Kyiv, Widodo is to visit Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The visit to Moscow is planned for Thursday, Indonesian authorities said earlier.
“With the same mission, I will ask President Putin to open a dialogue and to immediately have a ceasefire and to stop the war,” he said.
In April, Widodo announced he had called Zelenskiy and invited him to join world leaders as a guest at a G20 summit in Bali in November.
Indonesia holds the rotating presidency of the G20 this year and has been pressured by Western countries, led by the US, to exclude Russia from the meeting.
However, Widodo did not rescind the invitation to Russia and said that Putin has expressed his intention to attend the November summit.
Indonesia, like most major emerging economies, has tried to maintain a neutral position and has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Widodo refused to send weapons to Ukraine in response to a request from Zelenskiy, instead offering humanitarian aid.
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