Increasingly isolated, Putin will not travel to Bali for the G20 summit

the russian president Vladimir Putin will not travel to G20 leaders summit in Bali next week, Moscow announced Thursday, in a sign of growing diplomatic isolation since the launch of its Ukraine offensive.

The Russian delegation to Indonesia will be headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Kremlin told Russian news agencies, confirming an announcement to AFP from the Russian embassy in Jakarta.

“President Putin’s program is still being worked on, he could participate virtually,” Yulia Tomskaya, head of protocol for that diplomatic mission, told AFP.

For months there had been speculation about the presence or not of Putin at this summit that takes place on November 15 and 16 on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali and it will be the largest meeting of the Group of 20 since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of 2019.

Putin’s absence highlights Russia’s growing isolation on the international stage following the entry of its troops into Ukraine in late February.

The Russian position in Ukraine seems to be complicated after the announcement on Wednesday of the withdrawal of its troops from Kherson, a strategic regional capital that they occupied in the Ukrainian south.

Western countries have denounced the Russian offensive and are supportive of Ukraine, and Russia’s allies such as India and China have publicly criticized Putin.

By not traveling to Bali for this summit of the 20 major world economiesPutin avoids a reception that was announced cold and possible mistreatment, as an exclusion from the traditional family photo of the leaders.

US President Joe Biden, who branded Putin a “war criminal,” said he had no intention of meeting him even if the Russian leader attended the meeting.

The Russian foreign minister walked out of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali in July amid Western criticism of the Ukraine invasion.

Pressure on Indonesia

Indonesia received strong pressure from Western countries to exclude Russia from the meeting in reaction to the war in Ukraine, but the host country defended its neutrality ahead of the event.

Its president Joko Widodo assured that Putin would be invited to the summit and in August said that the Russian leader had accepted the invitation.

Jakarta also invited Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski to participate virtually in the summit, although his country is not part of the G20.

Experts point out that Putin’s absence will undermine the summit, preventing solutions to the conflict in Ukraine and its global economic consequences.

“The G20 can’t do much, so it will just be a symbolic forum. The discussion is always at a standstill,” said Radityo Dharmaputra, a Russia and Eastern Europe expert at Indonesia’s Airlangga University.

Crisis global

Although the western powers agreed to severe sanctions against Moscow, the approach of their leaders to Putin is different.

While Biden has avoided any contact with his Russian counterpart since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned against completely isolating Putin on the international scene.

Furthermore, while the sanctions have affected Russia, other powers have maintained their ties with Moscow. India and China, both present in the G20, increased their purchases of Russian crude.

Recently elected for a historic third term as head of China, President Xi Jinping should be among the leaders attending the summit, where he hopes to strengthen his global alliances in the face of existing tensions with Washington.

On the part of Latin America, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are part of the group, although it seems that only Argentine President Alberto Fernández will be in Bali.

The talks will be overshadowed by divisions over what is happening in Ukraine, which has sparked a global food crisis and sent energy prices soaring.

Until now, all G20 meetings prior to the summit of leaders ended without joint communiqués and a different result is not predicted this time, between reproaches crossed by global tensions.