Indonesian president Joko Widodo is set to embark on a peace mission to Russia and Ukraine in the coming days. President Widodo, known as “Jokowi” and current chair of the G20, will spend his visits urging Russia and Ukraine to rekindle peace talks, as well as seeking ways to free up exports of grain for global markets so as to mitigate the current food crisis.

President Widodo is one of six world leaders the United Nations appointed as champions of a Global Crisis Response Group (G.C.R.G.) formed to address the threat of an “unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution” resulting from Russia’s offensives in Ukraine. In a June 22^nd interview, Jokowi expressed his commitment to tackling the rising prices and inflation in food and energy sectors around the world.

“War has to be stopped and global food supply chains need to be reactivated,” the Indonesian president said before leaving Jakarta to attend a meeting with leaders of the G7 industrialized nations in Germany.

After the G7 meeting, Jokowi will travel to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and to Moscow to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Jokowi said that he will urge Putin to agree to a ceasefire.

Various multilateral attempts to bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end have been unsuccessful due to Russia’s simple unwillingness to make concessions or to cease its offensives in the region. Beyond the international havoc the war has wreaked on energy and food exports, Russian dedication to the invasion has brought it deep-seated national consequences it will have to surmount, including devastating sanctions the international world has tied directly to the Russian economy. These sanctions have the power to permanently re-orient international economies away from Russia on a long-term basis, causing Russia’s economy to fall behind in G.D.P. rankings. The potentially severe impairments to its current standard of living and restrictions on its capacity for geopolitical leverage give Russia serious incentives to end the conflict. If its government had a practical or sensible perspective regarding Ukraine, Russia would conclude that the eventual outcome would be too costly for it to stomach and would end the invasion.

Jokowi seems a bit too optimistic about repairing the impacts of the Ukraine conflict on food and energy exports. The Russian regime does not, evidently, possess a practical perspective in its current affairs; having already faced compelling incentives to end the conflict, the country appears to be adamant and unmoving. Urging for a ceasefire will certainly do little more to convince Russia to bend. Jokowi may be able to act as a bridge between the two countries – may even, in some potential future, be able to begin a dialogue between them – but expressing Indonesia’s desires for peace is highly unlikely to incite genuine change.

Attempting to remain neutral in foreign policy, Indonesia takes a convenient and cautious approach. Although a firm posture against the actions of the Russian regime would communicate the Indonesian perspective, Indonesia conducts what it describes as an “independent and active” non-aligned foreign policy. However, remaining neutral in situations of conflict so as to preserve one’s good standing with a powerful country is simply a self-serving means of evading the issue. Russia has little support left and very few methods of continuing to justify its actions. Indonesia, as a country with well established diplomatic relations with Russia, has both a distinct ability to take action and an opportunity to further alienate Russia on the international stage.

President Widodo will host a G20 summit in Bali in November as this year’s chair. Some nations have threatened to boycott if Putin attends, and, in an attempt to defuse tension, Indonesia has invited Ukraine to join the summit despite it not being a member of the G20.

The intentional inclusion of Ukraine communicates a disapproval of Russia’s actions, but it simply does not go far enough. Without clear and iron-willed opposition to its actions, Russia will continue its endeavors. Indonesia must take further action to push for peace on the international stage: passionately stating the implications of Russia’s negative impacts on the international food and energy economy would both clearly demonstrate Indonesia’s stance and further estrange Russia from what little international support it has left. Alienating Russia from its support and from any opportunities to further justify its actions will do much more to incentivize Russia to cease fire than “urging” it to do so.

Countries should not stand idly by in the face of conflict. Remaining neutral or gentle for the sake of benefiting one’s own country is neither admirable nor praiseworthy action. Indonesia must take a solid and outward stance against Russia and its endeavors in Ukraine. With such a unique opportunity to incite potential change in such a rigid conflict, Indonesia must firmly communicate and condemn the actions of the Russian regime.