Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the head of support for the G-20 events, said Putin’s decision not to come was “best for all of us”. US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are set to attend the two-day summit starting on November 15. The meeting would be the first time Biden and Putin have been together in a gathering since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is hosting the event on the island of Bali. “It has been officially informed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the G20 summit and will be represented by a high-ranking official, and this has been discussed by President Joko Widodo and Putin in previous phone conversations,” Panjaitan said after the meeting . security officials in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. “Whatever happens with Russia’s decision, it is for our common good and the best for all of us,” added Panjaitan, who is also the coordinating minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments. He said earlier that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would lead the Russian delegation. Panjaitan did not know why Putin decided not to come, but said “maybe it’s because President Putin is busy at home and we have to respect that as well.” Pandjaitan confirmed that the same reasons may be keeping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at home. Widodo earlier this year traveled to Kyiv and Moscow in an attempt to get the two leaders to sit down in Bali and make peace. Putin’s decision not to attend the G-20 comes as Russian forces in Ukraine have suffered significant setbacks. The Russian military said it would withdraw from Kherson, which is Ukraine’s only regional capital it captured and a gateway to the Russian-held Crimean peninsula. Russia’s announced withdrawal from Kherson along with a potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could offer both countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, Maj. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday . He said up to 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well over” 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war, now in its ninth month. “The same thing probably on the Ukrainian side,” added Milley. The G-20 is the largest of three summits to be held in Southeast Asia this week and next, and it remained unclear whether Lavrov would represent Russia at all of them. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit began Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, followed by the G-20 summit and then the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Thailand. Biden will attend ASEAN and the G-20 while Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to APEC. Biden is expected to meet with Xi in Bali. Biden had ruled out meeting Putin if he had attended the summit and said the only conversation he could have with the Russian leader would be to discuss a deal to free Americans imprisoned in Russia. Biden administration officials said they were coordinating with counterparts around the world to isolate Putin if he decided to participate either in person or virtually. They discussed boycotts or other condemnation events.
