Indonesia ready to organize meeting between Biden, Putin at G20 Summit
Indonesia's Ambassador to Russia Jose Antonio Morato Tavares reveals Bali's openness to host talks between Putin and Biden.
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US President Joe Biden poses with other leaders at the G20 summit at the La Nuvola conference center, in Rome, on October 30, 2021. (AP)
Indonesia has announced its readiness to organize a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of Bali's G20 Summit, Indonesia's Ambassador to Russia Jose Antonio Morato Tavares told Sputnik.
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"Indonesia would be very happy to do that [to organize the meeting]. And we have done it previously. For example, during the conflict in Cambodia, Indonesia hosted the Jakarta informal meetings for the Vietnam and Cambodia leaders who were at the time in dispute. They started up with some cocktails. And then things did develop. We do not promise that this will immediately resolve something, but simply talking to one another could help the progress of discussions," the ambassador said, upon being asked about the possibility of organizing a meeting.
Earlier in July, Russia informed Indonesia about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intention to partake in the G20 Summit.
Read next: Biden calls Putin a 'war criminal'; Kremlin blasts in return
"The President of Indonesia [Joko Widodo] has come here personally to invite Russia to participate in the summit. Russia as a member of G20 is equally important to any other member state. Moreover, Indonesia does not have a right to disinvite – we only have a prerogative right to invite additional participants as the host country," the ambassador said.
Biden has been having a hard rivalry with countries refusing to adhere to his policies against Moscow and even called from the NATO headquarters back in March to push for excluding Russia from the G20 summit. Last week, Biden's administration revealed that he has no plans to meet the Saudi Crown Prince at the G20 Summit.
The US president recently threatened Saudi Arabia after it agreed with Russia to cut oil output. Earlier in October, the 13-nation OPEC+ and its 10 allies infuriated the White House by resolving to cut output by two million barrels per day beginning in November, fueling fears that oil prices may spike.
"I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be -- there will be consequences," Biden told CNN.
