WORLD leaders are making final preparations for what could be a blockbuster upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia with the potential to become the most unpredictable multilateral meeting of recent years.

This is not least because of the Ukraine conflict, now into its ninth month, which has shaken up the international landscape. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be shunned by Western leaders if he actually attends, may feel like the skunk at the party, even though others like Chinese President Xi Jinping will engage him much as before.

Tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have already caused diplomatic fireworks at the G20 this year. Over the summer, foreign ministers clashed with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, walking out of meetings in Bali at least twice, and there were none of the usual customary group pictures of the so-called “G20 family” taken.