Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to attend a G20 summit in Indonesia later this year, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva said yesterday, dismissing suggestions by some G20 members that Moscow could be barred from the group.
The US and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the G20 major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions said.
However, any bid to exclude Russia would likely be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries skipping G20 meetings instead, the sources said.
Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, which currently holds the rotating G20 chair, said Putin intended to travel to Bali for the G20 summit in November.
“It will depend on many, many things, including the COVID situation, that is getting better. So far, his intention is ... he wants to,” Vorobieva told a news conference.
Asked about suggestions Russia could be excluded from the G20, she said it was a forum to discuss economic issues and not a crisis like Ukraine.
“Of course, expulsion of Russia from this kind of forum will not help these economic problems to be resolved. On the contrary, without Russia it would be difficult to do so,” she said.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on calls for Russia to be excluded from the G20.
Russia launched its invasion of its southern neighbor on Feb. 24.
Putin says Russia is carrying out “a special military operation” to stop the Ukrainian government from committing genocide — an accusation the West calls a baseless fabrication.
Vorobieva urged Indonesia not to be swayed by pressure from Western countries.
“We really hope that the Indonesian government will not give in to the horrible pressure that’s being applied not only to Indonesia, but so many other countries in the world by the West,” said Vorobieva, who said Russia was actively taking part in all G20 meetings.
Russia is facing an onslaught of international sanctions led by Western countries aiming at isolating it from the global economy, including shutting it out of the SWIFT global bank messaging system and restricting dealings by its central bank.
On Tuesday, Poland said it had suggested to US commerce officials that it replace Russia within the G20 group and that the suggestion had received a “positive response.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said G20 members would have to decide, but the issue was not a priority now.
“When it comes to the question of how to proceed with the WTO and the G20, it is imperative to discuss this question with the countries that are involved and not to decide individually,” Scholz said.
“It is quite clear that we are busy with something else than coming together in such meetings. We urgently need a ceasefire,” he added.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, asked if President Joe Biden would move to push Russia out of the G20 when he meets allies in Brussels this week, told reporters at the White House: “We believe that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community.”
However, the US plans to consult allies before any other pronouncements, he said.
An EU source separately confirmed the discussions about Russia’s status at G20 meetings.
“It has been made very clear to Indonesia that Russia’s presence at forthcoming ministerial meetings would be highly problematic for European countries,” the source said, but added that there was no clear process for excluding a country.
Indonesian central bank Deputy Governor Dody Budi Waluyo on Monday said that Indonesia’s position was one of neutrality and it would use its G20 leadership to try to resolve problems, but Russia had a “strong commitment” to attend and other members could not forbid it from doing so.
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