Zelenskyy Can Personally Attend G20 Summit If Putin Present There - Podoliak
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can personally attend the G20 summit if Russian President Vladimir Putin is present there.
Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President Mykhailo Podoliak announced this in an interview with BBC, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"I think that this (whether the President goes to the G20 summit or addresses via video link) will be decided specifically closer to the summit, this is the first.
Second, the President believes that he should be on the territory of Ukraine, and today online formats allow you to work effectively at any summits. But there is a third - if Putin is present (at the summit), then, of course, we will have to think about the need for our presence," Podoliak said.
Zelenskyy’s likely trip to the summit is explained by the fact that Putin's presence at any summit indirectly means that the organizers of the summit "legitimize the position of Russia, which attacked a sovereign state."
"You kind of let everyone else know this way: look, we believe that Russia had the right to come and kill Ukrainian children. We must treat it like this," explains the Adviser to the Head of the Office.
Podoliak once again recalled that the Russian Federation, given the actions of its army on the territory of Ukraine, should receive the legal status of either a state sponsor of terrorism, or a terrorist state, because this will significantly limit the opportunities for Russia's formal presence at any summits and at any negotiations.
Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the personal participation of Russian President Putin in the G20 summit was excluded.
However, in June, the Kremlin reported that they received an invitation to take part in the G20 summit, and Putin's participation is expected.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who now heads the G20, invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take part in the summit, which is scheduled for November in Bali.