- Zelenskyy said he won’t go to the G20 summit if Putin goes, according to Ukrainian media.
- Both Zelenskyy and Putin are invited, though neither has committed to attending.
- Many G20 nations have condemned Russia’s invasion but host nation Indonesia aims at neutrality.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would turn down an invitation to the upcoming G20 meeting if President Vladimir Putin attends, according to Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
“My personal position and the position of Ukraine was that if the leader of the Russian Federation will participate, then Ukraine will not participate,” he said on Thursday, per Ukrinform. “Let’s see how it will be in the future,” he added.
Unlike Russia, Ukraine is not a member of the G20 group of nations, whose next meeting is scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Bali, Indonesia.
However, Zelenskyy tweeted in April that he was invited by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and mentioned on Thursday another call with Widodo, where they discussed the summit.
Several major players in the G20, including the European Union, the USA, the UK, Canada and Japan, have firmly aligned with Ukraine since the beginning of the war, condemning Putin’s actions in the strongest possible terms and offering extensive military and humanitarian support.
One month into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden called for Russia to be removed from the G20, as Reuters reported at the time.
But Indonesia's ambassador to Russia, Jose Tavares, told Russian state-run news agency TASS in October that Putin was still invited. "Even if other countries would put pressure on us, we have our own position," Tavares said.
Russia is working towards expanding its diplomatic presence in Indonesia, Tavares said. The country has a tradition of neutrality, and in June Widodo visited both Ukraine and Russia, as Deutsche Welle reported.
As of Thursday, Indonesia was still waiting to hear if Putin will attend, the country's foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told Reuters.