Joko Widodo to visit Moscow during peace mission

Indonesian President Joko Widodo will visit Moscow and potentially Kyiv in what is firming as a likely peace-broking mission.

Security ­arrange­ments are under way for President Joko Widodo to visit Ukraine next week. Picture: Getty Images

Indonesian President Joko Widodo will attend a G7 summit in Germany next week ahead of a visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and potentially also then Kyiv, in what is firming up as a likely peace-broking mission for the Southeast Asian leader.

Indonesian Security Minister Mahfud MD confirmed the planned visit to Moscow on Monday, a full week after Russia’s state Tass announced the June 30 visit.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah also confirmed to The Australian that President Jokowi (as he is known) would go to Germany for the June 26 to 28 meeting of the Group of Seven largest economies – to be held in the German Alpine resort of Schloss Elmau – in his role as president of the G20 this year.

“The President will attend the G7 event at the invitation of the current G7 Chair, Germany,” Mr Faizasyah said.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier invited Jokowi to attend the G7 Summit during his Indonesia visit last week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend November’s G7 summit in Bali by videolink. Picture: AFP

Speculation is firming that Jokowi’s European itinerary could also include a visit to Kyiv, following his meeting with President Vladimir Putin where he is expected to try to persuade the Russian leader to allow free passage for Ukrainian wheat and grain shipments.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil but Russia’s blockade of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa has dramatically reduced the shipment volumes out of the war-torn nation, raising fears of worldwide food shortages in coming months.

The UN has warned global hunger is at a “new high” as the war batters a global food system already weakened by pandemic, climate change and an energy shock, and countries seek to protect their own food and energy stocks with export bans.

The Jakarta Post cited a top government official on Monday confirming preparations were being finalised by Indonesian and Russian authorities for Jokowi’s Moscow visit, and that security arrangements were also underway for the president to visit Ukraine, with an announcement to be made in the next few days.

The Australian reported last week that Jokowi’s Moscow visit was likely to be a peace brokering mission as the final term leader – once notoriously shy of the world stage – seeks to shore up the success of the Indonesia-hosted G20 and leave a wider legacy ahead of presidential elections in early 2024.

Indonesian foreign policy expert Dewi Fortuna Anwar said the president’s Jokowi’s visits to Moscow and possible also Kyiv were an opportunity to demonstrate Indonesian sympathy for Ukraine, and also to urge Putin to cease Russian aggression on behalf of developing countries who face economic hardship due to the conflict.

“It is clear that Russia is the aggressor while Ukraine is (acting) in self defence. Indonesia needs to show a genuine sympathy to a country under attack, no matter what is the reason behind it,” Professor Anwar said.

Indonesian opinion is divided over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with many commentators at least partly blaming the west and NATO for the conflict.

But poor and developing nations are increasingly concerned that escalating global distrust as a result of the Ukraine war and US China rivalry is preventing regional co-operation in dealing with the looming triple threat of financial crisis, food and energy shortages.

Jokowi was appointed in April as one of six special global emissaries – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen – to a UN Global Crisis Response Group charged with addressing the potential hunger crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two nations, together, produce 30 per cent of the world’s wheat.

But Jokowi is also expected to use his attendance at the meeting with G7 leaders to, in turn, secure their commitment to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali this November, amid earlier threats from several western leaders including United States President Joe Biden to boycott the summit if Putin attended.

Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison had also said it would be a “step too far” to sit at the same table as Putin though his successor, Anthony Albanese, assured Jokowi during his two day trip to Indonesia earlier this month that he would attend the Bali summit, regardless of whether or not the Russian leader showed up.

Jakarta has also invited Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to the summit, the apex of this year’s G20 calendar, in a compromise move aimed at appeasing Western G20 member nations.

Both Zelensky and Putin have said they will attend though the two leaders are widely expected to do so by video link given the political and security risks involved in leaving their respective countries.

Still, Jokowi has struggled to keep G20 events focused on his post-pandemic “Recover Together, Recover Stronger” G20 agenda as Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine has dominated global discussions and internal politics among the world’s 20 largest economies.