Indonesian President Joko Widodo will visit Moscow and Kyiv at the end of June to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Mr Widodo would discuss the food crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict during his visits.

“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,” Mr Marsudi said.

The special visits would show that Indonesia, as the host country of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in November, was actively responding to the ongoing geopolitical issue.

Indonesia had fully expected that Russia, one of the G20 members, would attend the summit, while Ukraine was also invited to 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,” he said.

The foreign minister said Mr Widodo would be the first president from the Southeast Asia region to visit both countries since the conflict broke out in February this year.

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.

Meanwhile, Widodo will first attend the G7 Summit in Germany before travelling to Moscow and Kyiv.

(Xinhua/NAN)