JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo will visit Moscow and Kiev by the end of June and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky respectively, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a press briefing on Wednesday.
Retno said that during the visits, Widodo will discuss the food crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Xinhua news agency reported.
The "special visits" would show that Indonesia, as the host country of Group of 20 (G20) Summit in November, was "actively responding" to the ongoing geopolitical issue.
Indonesia has fully expected that Russia, one of G20 members, will attend the summit, while Ukraine was also invited for the meeting as a guest country.
"We fully understand that the situation now is very complicated, and all of the countries in the world know that. Thus, through the visits, the president wants to contribute to overcoming the food crisis that has been caused by the war and has impacted the poor countries. The President wants to push for the spirit of peace, " Retno said.
She pointed out that President Widodo would be the first president from the Southeast Asia region to visit both countries since the conflict broke out in February.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on since then, which has been widely reported to trigger a rise in global food and energy prices.