Indonesia President to meet with Putin, Zelensky to urge peace talks

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Indonesian President and G20 chairman Joko Widodo took off on Sunday to Europe with plans on visiting Russia and Ukraine to meet with the countries' leaders to push for peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.

Widodo is set to visit Germany from June 26 to 27 as a guest for the G7 summit, and he will then go to Ukraine to visit President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"The mission is to ask... President Zelensky to open a dialogue forum for peace - to build peace because the war has to be stopped," he told a press conference in Jakarta before leaving for Berlin.

The G7 countries had held their last meeting in Germany last month, where they discussed the Ukraine war, China, and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region, Afghanistan, Africa, and West Asia.

Widodo said he will also discuss with Zelensky the food supply chain that "needs to be reactivated soon." Upon finishing his visit to Kiev, Widodo is scheduled to head for Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Indonesian authorities said earlier that Widodo's visit to Moscow is planned for June 30.

"With the same mission, I will ask President Putin to open a dialogue, to immediately have a ceasefire, and to stop the war," he said. Widodo announced in April that he had called Zelensky and invited him to join world leaders at the November G20 Summit in Bali as a guest. 

Indonesia holds the rotating presidency of the G20 this year, and it is under mounting pressure from the West, mainly the United States, to exclude Russia from the meeting in a bid by Washington to further undermine Moscow's significant role in the international arena.

Jakarta, however, has tried to maintain a neutral position regarding Russia and Ukraine, calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has been unfolding for months now.

Despite Indonesia's position, Widodo refused to send weapons to Ukraine in response to requests from Zelensky, instead offering humanitarian aid to Kiev.

President Widodo's trip will see him going to Berlin, Kiev, and Moscow, in that order. He will then visit the United Arab Emirates before going back home to Indonesia.

Zelensky has asked almost every country in the world to send arms to his country, and though many, like Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom were happy to grant him his wishes, numerous states have adhered to their neutrality on the war, only sending humanitarian aid and calling for a peaceful resolution to the crisis.