November 29, 2024
JAKARTA – Foreign Minister Sugiono met with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha this week in a bilateral meeting in Italy, where they discussed plans for peace amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting, conducted on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Affairs Ministers’ meeting with Indo-Pacific partners in Fiuggi on Monday, saw “discussions on the peace process [necessary] to resolve the conflict in Ukraine”, according to a statement from Sugiono’s office in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The statement did not specifically mention the Peace Formula first proposed in late 2022 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sybiha, meanwhile, said on X on Tuesday that he was “pleased to meet with Minister Sugiono and thank Indonesia for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the Peace Formula”.
The 10-point peace plan includes a call for the restoration of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, the withdrawal of all Russian troops from its territory and the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes. Moscow has rejected the plan.
Before the war, about a quarter of Indonesia’s imported wheat came from Ukraine, while the war has also driven up the prices of raw materials for fertilizer.
Earlier this year in June, President Prabowo Subianto, in his capacity as then-defense minister, met with Zelensky at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore to discuss the implementation of Ukraine’s peace plan.
The meeting in Singapore came a year after Prabowo made international headlines for proposing his own version of the Ukraine peace plan, which included a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Russian and Ukrainian troops to create a demilitarized zone and a call for a United Nations-sponsored referendum in the disputed areas.
Read also: Kyiv slams Prabowo’s Russia-Ukraine peace plan
Ukraine has dismissed the plan, reiterating Kyiv’s position that Russia should unconditionally withdraw its troops from the occupied territory.
Indonesia has previously made its stance on the conflict clear, voting in favor of the 2022 UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories.
Despite this, Jakarta has also been reluctant to cut off its diplomatic ties with Russia, on various occasions remaining adamant on still communicating with Moscow despite pressure from Western countries.
In a world peace summit in Switzerland in June, Indonesia opted against signing a joint communique drafted by Ukraine and which was adopted in the absence of any Russian delegations.
Read also: Ukraine peace plan must be inclusive, balanced, Indonesia says
The communique asserted against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, a complete exchange of all prisoners of war among both parties and a guarantee that Ukraine’s exports of agricultural products proceed unhindered.
The Indonesian representative in the meeting at the time said that any peace plans must be drafted in an “inclusive and balanced manner”, with some countries reluctant to sign the communique on the grounds that Russia was not involved in its drafting.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday told The Jakarta Post that “despite not signing the joint statement in Switzerland”, Indonesia still “in general supports the peace process in Ukraine”.