Swiss Foreign Minister Urges Russia's Participation in Discussions of Ukraine Settlement
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Sunday urged Russia's participation in conferences on the Ukraine settlement, saying that it was impossible to achieve peace in the region without negotiating its conditions with Moscow.
"We're not going to have a peace conference without Russia, this is not possible. However, we need to see how and when we can get Russia on board," Cassis said at the fourth meeting of national security advisers on Ukraine's "peace formula" in the Swiss city of Davos.
Representatives from 83 countries, including BRICS nations such as India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, are participating in the discussions in Davos, he added.
Meanwhile, China is skipping the conference, the top Swiss diplomat said, stressing, however, the need to get the country engaged in the negotiations. Beijing can play a crucial role in the peace talks, given its close ties with Moscow, Cassis explained.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian and Ukrainian delegations have engaged in several rounds of peace talks since then, but the negotiations have ultimately reached an impasse. In October 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree stating that Kiev could not hold peace talks as long as Vladimir Putin was president of Russia.
In November 2022, Zelenskyy unveiled his 10-point peace initiative dubbed "peace formula." It included an all-for-all prisoner swap with Russia, security guarantees for Ukraine and a return to the pre-2014 borders. Moscow has continuously said it was open to peace negotiations as long as Kiev recognizes the territorial gains Russian forces have made since the launch of the special military operation.
