Coordinating Minister Mahfud MD, Confirms President Jokowi Will Meet Putin At The End Of June

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD when met at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Monday (20/6/2022) (ANTARA/Gilang Galiartha)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam), Mahfud MD, confirmed the planned meeting of President Joko Widodo with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 30, 2022.

"Yes, that's the President's agenda. I think what's the problem? We just want to meet", said Mahfud at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Monday, June 20.

Russian News Agency TASS on June 14, 2022, said President Putin would meet his Indonesian counterpart, President Jokowi in Moscow on June 30, 2022.

A Kremlin source told TASS that the visit was an important one.

"(State visits) have their own team", added Mahfud.

TASS source said that Indonesia is an important partner of Russia in the political and economic fields. The source also said that this year Indonesia also holds the G20 Presidency.

On April 29, 2022, President Jokowi said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had confirmed that he would attend the G20 Summit in Bali through a telephone conversation with President Jokowi on April 28, 2022, at 19.00 WIB.

In that conversation, President Jokowi asked President Putin to end the war with Ukraine.

The G20 has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its ninth week. The invasion has increased geopolitical tensions, threatened the global economy, and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Several G20 members have even called for Russia and President Vladimir Putin to be removed from the attendance list at the G20 summit in Bali in November. However, Indonesia refused and said it was too early to decide on that.