MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Thursday that peace talks about Ukraine planned to be held in Switzerland in June made “no sense” unless Russia participates.
On Wednesday, Switzerland announced that a high-level conference on the Ukraine conflict would be held on June 15-16 but without Russia.
Ukraine and around 100 countries would attend the peace conference at the luxury Burgenstock resort near the central city of Lucerne. Swiss President Viola Amherd will host the conference.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We said many times that the process of (peace) talks without Russia makes no sense.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said any action on Ukraine that “ignores Russia’s position” was “detached from reality” and had “no perspective”.
She also criticised the “peace formula” put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, financial reparations from Moscow and the creation of a special tribunal to judge Russian officials.
“It is common knowledge that the ‘Zelensky formula’ does not envisage compromises or alternatives and totally ignores the proposals of China, Brazil, and African states,” Zakharova said.
“We are convinced that our partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America will be vigilant and will not be led into a new anti-Russian adventure,” the spokeswoman said.
Zakharova also said Switzerland “cannot be trusted” because it “defends Ukraine’s positions, supports the Kyiv regime, applies anti-Russian sanctions and adopted strategies that exclude Russia from the European security system”.
The spokeswoman added: “Switzerland cannot be a neutral host under such conditions let alone be a mediator, by definition”.
The Swiss government agreed during a January visit by Zelensky to organise a peace conference this year. It said in a statement Wednesday that “there is currently sufficient international support for a high-level conference to launch the peace process”.
Traditionally neutral Switzerland has from the start insisted that Moscow must eventually be brought into the talks and has sought to attract China and other emerging powers to the conference.
