Penny Wong wargames G20 message for Putin’s foreign minister

Kuala Lumpur: Australia is wargaming with allies about the best way to stand up to Russia at next week’s G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali without derailing Indonesia’s presidency of the group of leading economies.

Russia’s embassy in Jakarta has confirmed the attendance of its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov at the two-day meeting on the holiday island, which will bring him face to face with Australia’s Penny Wong and other counterparts from around the world.

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will be an unavoidable topic in Bali despite the G20’s emphasis on economic recovery and Australian officials have had talks with representatives from other nations about how to best convey their anger towards Moscow there.

Sergey Lavrov has served as Russia’s Foreign Minister since 2004. Credit: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed to supporting Indonesia in its moment in the sun as head of the G20 this year despite the continuing inclusion of Russia. It is a different approach to that of predecessor Scott Morrison, who had in March frowned upon the invitation of Putin, describing the idea of sitting around a table with the Russian leader as “a step too far”.

The likes of Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan and New Zealand have, however, deployed various strategies to reinforce their stance on Russia’s aggression at a series of other G20 and APEC meetings since the war in Europe began.

This has included walkouts during addresses by Russian delegations, the sending of junior officials to meeting when Russians and denunciations of the invasion by government representatives including by an Australian official at a lower-level G20 digital economy forum on Lombok in March.

Delegates attending virtually have also turned off their screens when Russia has had the microphone and deliberately returned late from afternoon tea when the Kremlin’s envoy was scheduled to speak straight afterwards.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, seen here at a press conference in Malaysia this week, will meet Lavrov face to face for the first time in Bali. Credit: AP

The choreography of the protest in Bali has not yet been determined but Australia and like-minded countries have been discussing a coordinated approach to respond to the presence of Lavrov, who has been Russia’s foreign minister since 2004.

“I will be attending the G20 foreign ministers meeting because it is important Australia supports Indonesia to ensure the meeting is a success,” Wong said.

“Given Foreign Minister Lavrov plans to attend while Russia wages an illegal and immoral war on Ukraine, the meeting cannot be business as usual.

“I have been working with my Indonesian counterpart, Foreign Minister [Retno] Marsudi and other partners to ensure that the forum sends a clear message to Russia.”

Asked about the reception Lavrov might expect next week, Denis Tetyushin, the spokesman for the Russian embassy in Jakarta, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age “you have to ask other delegations”.

“It’s their business,” he said. “But you can’t really discuss big issues without Russia’s participation.”

While Wong and top diplomats from G20 nations will converge on Bali next Thursday, Indonesia President Joko Widodo was on Wednesday boarding a train from Poland into Ukraine to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

The Indonesian leader has also flagged plans to visit Moscow, where he said he would call for a ceasefire and implore Putin to stop a blockade of Ukrainian grain exports to avert a global food crisis.

“We started this peace mission with good intentions. Hope it gets easier,” said Joko, known as Jokowi, on Wednesday.

Speaking in Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, Wong responded to reported plans by China to schedule its own meeting with Pacific foreign ministers on the same day as the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji next month. Beijing’s invitations to ministers from 10 Pacific nations was revealed by the ABC.

“I would hope that any external major power engaging with the Pacific would respect the regional architecture,” Wong said.

Wong on Wednesday delivered a speech to an audience including politicians and business figures in the Malaysian capital in which she talked of her own heritage in the country.

Later, she was flying to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state and the city of her birth, for the second and final leg of a three-day Malaysian tour.

“My family history will be on my mind today when I go back to Kota Kinabalu,” she said. “But more than the past, I am focused on the future.”

with Karuni Rompies