Indonesia should not become a puppet of Western countries that insist on excluding Russia from the Group of Twenty (G20), and should maintain an invitation for the Russian side to participate in the forum's events. This opinion was expressed by Tristano of one of the country's leading think tanks, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, in an op-ed published Wednesday by the Detik portal.
"After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have repeatedly called for Moscow to be excluded from the G20 and not to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit to be held in Bali in November. However, Jakarta should not submit to the West's demand. As a sovereign state, Indonesia should determine its own steps without pressure from outside," the expert said. According to him, the republic "should not become a puppet of the West.
The employee of the center is sure that "Indonesia should not allow the exclusion of Russia, which is an important part of the world economy, one of the largest exporters of oil and natural gas." "Cooperation with the Russian Federation is necessary for the recovery of the world economy after the pandemic," Tristano pointed out. - Therefore, the possible exclusion of Russia would be counterproductive to the whole G20 theme."
Possible compromise
Meanwhile, in his view, Jakarta "could compromise to prevent a boycott by the West and invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky." In this way, "all sides will have grounds to say that their goals have been achieved," the scholar believes. Moreover, he says, Jakarta "could demand written guarantees of Western leaders' participation in the summit if Zelensky arrives".
In addition, Indonesia "could have organized a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, which would have improved Jakarta's image as a mediator in solving the world's acute problems," the expert added.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow's plans did not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. After that, the United States, the EU, the United Kingdom, and a number of other states imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS