White House officials called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to participate in an upcoming G-20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia in response to that country’s president stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin would likely attend the summit.
“As President Biden has said publicly himself, he does not think President Putin should attend the G-20 as he wages his war against Ukraine,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement.
The statement added that if Putin does attend, the White House feels that Zelenskyy should also be part of the meeting, Bloomberg reported.
On Thursday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo told Bloomberg that he predicted Putin would attend the November summit alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Widodo said, confirming both leaders would attend.
White House officials said they relayed to their Indonesian counterparts their hope that Russia will not be attending the meeting.
In March, Biden called for Russia to be expelled from the G-20 group after it invaded Ukraine. But he admitted that other member nations, including Indonesia, would likely not go along with the move.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)