Indonesia invites Russian President to attend G20, US struggles

According to CNN, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on April 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted an invitation to attend the G20 summit to be held on the island of Bali in November. Mr. Widodo said: “Indonesia wants to rule G20. Don’t let division happen. Peace and stability are the keys to the recovery and development of the world economy.”

Damaged apartment building in Mariupol – Ukraine on April 28. Photo: Reuters

State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter added that the United States did not think it could “cooperate as usual” with Russia on the international stage. Ms. Porter did not comment on whether the US would attend the summit on the island of Bali.

Tensions between the United States and Russia continued to escalate as the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin warned that the law that the US House of Representatives just passed on the loan-lease of weapons would cause generations of Ukrainians to be in debt.

According to RT radio on April 29, Volodin said that “lending-rental” is not free and Ukraine will have to pay for the weapons that will be provided by the US under this program.

Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin. Photo: Reuters

Suggesting that lending to Ukraine would increase the profits of US defense corporations many times over, Mr. Volodin wrote on the Telegram channel: “Washington’s motives are very clear.”

On April 28, the US House of Representatives passed the “Ukrainian Democratic Defense Leasing-Lease Act”, making it easier for the US to send weapons to Ukraine amid Russia’s military campaign in the country.

In the latest development on the Ukraine crisis, the Ukrainian government warned that peace talks with Moscow were at risk of breakdown and said Russia was attacking regions in the east. Ukraine and Russia have not held in-person peace talks since March 29, but only through online form since that day.

Both the US and UK have voiced their support for Ukraine in the negotiations but say it is important to continue arming Kiev. President Joe Biden on April 28 also asked the US Congress to add a new aid package worth 33 billion USD, including more than 20 billion USD in weapons.