Indonesia’s foreign minister said on Thursday that differences over Ukraine had made preparations for the meeting particularly fraught and that they were waiting to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend.

The war in Ukraine has overshadowed Indonesia’s presidency of the G20 this year, with the world’s 20 most powerful economies disagreeing about how to respond to the energy and food crisis.

In an interview, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that Putin’s attendance at the meeting might only be known at the last minute.

When she was asked if the Russian leader’s attendance had been confirmed, she said, “Let’s wait until D-Day.

U.S. President Joe Biden is going.

When Indonesia assumed the chairmanship of the G20 in December, the biggest concern was the recovery from the coronaviruses, she said, but that changed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia calls it a special operation to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. The fascist allegation is baseless and the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

In order to bridge the divide, Indonesia invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the G20 summit, as well as visit both Moscow and Kyiv in June.

Zelensky’s attendance has yet to be confirmed but Ukraine called on Tuesday for Russia to be kicked out of the G20 and for Putin’s invitation to the Bali summit to be revoked.

Retno said that the G20 chair did not have the final say.

She said that the presidency doesn’t have the right to expel unless there is a consensus from the G20 member countries.

‘VERY DIFFICULT

Some countries have taken a “black and white” approach to issues that are very complex, and some group members have taken days to agree on a single word.

She said that the preparations for the summit were very, very difficult.

“Maybe Indonesia’s presidency this time is among the most difficult of all G20’s because of the geopolitical issues, economy, and others,” he said.

The G20 foreign ministers meeting in July was one of several meetings this year in which the grouping has failed to release a joint communique.

According to two diplomatic sources, Indonesia is working on a ” leader’s declaration” at the upcoming summit, which is unlikely to see a joint communique.

Retno said that she was more concerned with the substance of the final document than she was about the likelihood of a communique.

The name it adopts will contain leaders’ political commitments. It’s better to focus on the content. In the end, the content speaks louder.

Indonesia was one of the countries that voted at the UN. Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories was condemned by the General Assembly in October, but they maintained that the G20 should focus on economic issues. 

Retno said that the G20 remained unaffected by the discussion of the war in Ukraine.

She said that this year’s successes include a fund for future Pandemics that has reached over one billion dollars, with contributions from countries such as China, the United States, and the European Union.