G20 Without Putin

Is Vladimir Putin's presence at the G20 Summit so important? National and international public concern regarding Putin's absence was solely due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Group of 20 Summit will take place in Bali on 15-16 November 2022. What agenda will be discussed later seems to have been sidelined by the news of the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many people concluded that the G20 meeting this time was meaningless because Putin was not present.

Is Vladimir Putin's presence at the G20 Summit so important?

I personally do not see that Putin's presence or absence will make the meeting meaningful or not.

The problem is, the G20 Summit will only result in non-legally binding commitments. And yet Russia is still present in Bali with a delegation led by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Putin himself is likely to join virtually as well.

Other world leaders, such as United States President Joe Biden, Putin's foe, remain in attendance.

World condemnation

National and international public concern regarding Putin's absence was solely due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The invasion, which began on 24 February 2022, fixed the world's attention on Putin.

Attention in the context of condemnation. Moreover, Putin has often threatened to impose sanctions on countries that opposed Russia regarding the invasion. Putin even threatened to use nukes to threaten countries against him.

As a result of Putin's invasion, European and American countries imposed economic sanctions on Russia. In fact, the sanctions actually made European countries experience an economic crisis due to the cessation of energy and food supplies, which caused price spikes and a crisis in the cost of living. Then, the global community increasingly condemned Putin, because he is considered the cause of the economic crisis.

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> Indonesia Optimistic over G20 Summit

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After indiscriminately attacking Ukraine for so long, with demonstrations of various cutting-edge weapons technology, it turns out that until now Russia has not been able to conquer Ukraine.

Russia's inability to conquer Ukraine has caused the global community’s spotlight to increasingly be focused on Putin because he is thought to be merely bluffing. He does not have military capability as perceived by the public so far.

With all that, the international public awaits President Putin's arrival in Bali. The public wants to know how the world leaders will react, especially those countries that condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

More specifically, the world public wants to witness the direct interaction between President Joe Biden and President Putin when they meet in Bali. Understandably, all this time, the war of nerves between the two has captured the world's attention.

The public wants to see whether there is a handshake between Putin and other world leaders or not; if there a “family photo”, standing close together, as if nothing is wrong between them.

Another chapter that the world is really looking forward to is Putin's body language when he meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will also be in attendance as an invited guest.

There is no need to make a fuss about whether Putin is present or not at the G20 Summit in Bali.

These are the factors that make the public think the G20 Summit is meaningless without Putin's presence -- a calculation that is merely intrigued by the spotlight factor and media reviews about Putin's figure.

It has nothing to do with the substance discussed in Bali, which will divide the world between Russia and European and American countries, as was the case in the Cold War in the past. So, there is no need to make a fuss about whether Putin is present or not at the G20 Summit in Bali.

Indonesia's Position

As for Indonesia as the host of the meeting, holder of the current G20 presidency, it means much more to focus on preparing the basic concepts that will be discussed later in the meeting.

The weight of the substance that will be offered will determine whether Indonesia is successful or not in holding the summit. It is not about bringing Putin to Bali or refusing him.

The transition to sustainable energy, from fossil energy to new and renewable energy, is only one of the priority issues that will be discussed at the G20 Heads of State Summit in Bali, in addition to issues on global health architecture and issues of digital and economic transformation.

In relation to the energy transition, for example, Indonesia really needs to prepare a comprehensive concept to convince world leaders about Indonesia's seriousness about this. Understandably, Indonesia is a large coal-producing country in the world.

Also read:

> Indonesia: Navigating a Difficult Global Economy

> G20 Presidency: Encouraging Action, Beyond Rhetoric

What I can imagine is that Indonesia lays out a clear and concrete roadmap and has proven its commitment and seriousness in this regard. The problem is, people's pessimism about Indonesia's seriousness in switching from fossil energy to renewable energy is still very strong.

Let's take an example: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has promised for the last two years that by 2025, our energy mix will have reached 23 percent. Until now, our energy mix is only 12.7 percent, even lower because the government has just authorized the construction of another 4,000-megawatt coal-power plant.

Regarding the renewable-energy agenda, everyone knows how complicated it is to invest in our country in the renewable-energy sector. The root of the problem lies in the state's own organ, which is tasked specifically with managing this energy sector.

Foreign investors, as well as domestic investors, have experienced ambiguity between the government's invitation to the private sector to invest in renewable energy on the one hand and the complicated and tangled threads of state bureaucracy on the other.

We must prepare answers to these facts.

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

Hamid Awaluddin

Hamid Awaludin, Indonesian Ambassador to Russia and Belarus 2008-2011

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.