Tuesday 15 November 2022 09:32 AM Joe Biden meets Turkish leader Erdogan on sidelines of G20 in Bali trends now

President Joe Biden met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday, a meeting that was not announced in advance.

It came as Biden sought to build unity among leaders in isolating Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has posed as a dealmaker between the West and Russia, and on Monday Biden dispatched CIA chief Bill Burns to Ankara for meetings with his Russian counterpart.

Video showed the two leaders deep in conversation. It was confirmed by the Turkish president's office but journalists traveling with Biden were not allowed to cover the meeting.

White House officials initially said the meeting was unplanned, but the video showed the two leaders sitting at a table adorned with a U.S. and a Turkish flag. 

It was a potentially sensitive moment, with Turkey sometimes frustrating the U.S. and NATO allies, buying a Russian air defense system and raising objections to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance.

But that has bought it leverage with Moscow. 

The White House said Biden offered his sympathy for a weekend bomb attack in Istanbul and thanked Erdogan for his help in negotiating free passage for grain from Ukraine. 

'President Biden expressed his deep condolences to President Erdogan and the people of Turkey on the acts of violence in Istanbul and made clear we stand with our NATO ally,' the White House said. 

'President Biden expressed his appreciation to President Erdogan for his efforts to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which they both agreed has been critical to improving global food security amid Russia’s war and that the Initiative must continue.'

Biden arrived earlier at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for more help' in ending the war.

'I am convinced now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped,' Zelensky said, appearing remotely to a conference that Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped.

'It will save thousands of lives.'

According to AFP, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stayed in his seat to hear the speech - and European leaders stayed in theirs for his remarks - despite thereats of walkouts before the summit began.

Zelensky delivered his speech after making a dramatic return to Kherson following a Russian military retreat from the regional capital it seized after its February invasion.

Zelensky found good company among leaders who gathered in the luxurious Kempinski hotel, which features dramatic ocean views.

Xi Jinping of China condemned the 'weaponization' of food and energy in what observers took to be rare criticism of the way Vladimir Putin was waging the war in Ukraine.

'We must firmly oppose politicisation, instrumentalization and weaponization of food and energy problems,' he said.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo urged leaders to 'end the war.'

'If the war does not end, it will be difficult for the world to move forward,' Widodo said. 'We should not divide the world into parts. 

'We must not allow the world to fall into another cold war.'

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Russia a 'pariah state,' telling reporters he planned to  'unequivocally condemn' Moscow for its invasion.

Asked how he would handle Lavrov, Sunak told reporters:

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