Switzerland has organized a peace conference on the Ukraine crisis and has extended invitations to over 160 delegations for the event scheduled for June 2024.
However, Russia has not been invited “at this stage,” as it has consistently rejected the conference, labeling it as a US-led initiative.
Russia insists it will not participate in any talks unless Ukraine acknowledges its annexation of the roughly 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory it currently occupies.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry stated, “Russia has not been invited at this stage. Switzerland has always shown openness to extending an invitation to Russia for this summit. However, Russia has said repeatedly and also publicly that it has no interest in participating in this first summit. The summit in Switzerland is intended to initiate a peace process. Switzerland is convinced that Russia must be involved in this process. A peace process without Russia is unthinkable.”
The attendance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and United States President Joe Biden has yet to be confirmed. It remains uncertain whether China, a key ally of Moscow, will participate.
China, which has refrained from condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, has faced accusations of indirectly supporting the war due to its strategic partnership with Moscow.
The conference is scheduled for June 15-16 at the luxury Burgenstock resort near Lucerne. The list of participating countries, which includes members of the G7, the G20, and the BRICS group, will be published shortly before the conference.
Invitations have also been extended to the Vatican, the European Union, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The peace summit is expected to last just over a day. The Swiss Foreign Ministry stated, “All states present at the summit should contribute their ideas and visions for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” The talks aim to “promote a common understanding of a possible framework to reach this goal” and “jointly define a roadmap on how to involve both parties in a future peace process.”
Meanwhile, Russia has made recent advances against Ukraine’s outgunned, under-equipped forces, ahead of the long-awaited arrival of the bulk of US weapons to support Kyiv’s troops.
