G20 Bali: The Most Explosive Diplomatic Event of the Year — EXPRESS | By Aleks Phillips | PART 3
Continued from the previous post » » » Regardless of Ukraine’s presence at the summit, Putin will still be taken to task by the UK’s new Prime Minister.
Ms Truss pledged during a leadership debate with Rishi Sunak that she was prepared to face him directly and “call him out in front of those very important swing countries like India and Indonesia”. In August, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo told Bloomberg: “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come.”
*Photo: EU Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen thinks Putin should be publicly punished - via video clip from YouTube © CRUX
Ms Truss’s campaign said at the time she stood by her earlier comments. Despite previous attempts to mock the then-Foreign Secretary, the Kremlin appeared to view Ms Truss as perhaps an even more avid supporter of Ukraine than Mr Johnson.
Shortly before she was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership contest on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, said of relations with the UK: “I wouldn’t like to say that things can change for the worse, because it’s hard to imagine anything worse. But unfortunately, this cannot be ruled out.”
*Photo: Truss pledged she was prepared to face Putin directly at the summit
Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, welcomed the new leader, stating: “We in Ukraine know her well – she has always been on the bright side of European politics. And I believe that together we will be able to do a lot more to protect our nations and to thwart all Russian destructive efforts. The main thing is to preserve our unity, and this will definitely be the case.”
*Photo: Zelensky mentioned “We in Ukraine know her well – she has always been on the bright side of European politics”
In a congratulatory call with Ms Truss after she was made Britain’s new Prime Minister yesterday, the two leaders vowed “continued close cooperation on global challenges, including supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression” and “addressing the challenges posed by China”.
*Photo: Biden earlier called for Russia to be removed from the G20 bloc altogether
The US President, meanwhile, earlier called for Russia to be removed from the G20 bloc altogether, and American officials had been pressuring Indonesia to exclude Putin from the summit. Mr Biden is still expected to attend the summit, but has not yet publicly stated whether he will.
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*Photos are from Express / © Getty Images, except the 2nd from YouTube
