Switzerland plans to involve Russia in Ukraine peace talks

Switzerland is planning for a series of Ukraine peace talks leading to a meeting that will include Russia, foreign minister Ignazio Cassis said on Tuesday. Mr Cassis said he had discussed such a multi-step process towards Russian involvement with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who last month asked Switzerland to host the peace talks.

“We discussed together about that. We have a plan that is beyond one conference,” Mr Cassis said.

He was speaking in Beijing following talks with China’s vice-president Han Zheng and foreign minister Wang Yi. Mr Cassis said he had invited China to take part in the peace conference but had not yet received a response.

“It is a very high-level conference. We cannot expect an immediate answer,” he said.

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China took part in a meeting about Ukraine’s peace plan in Saudi Arabia in August last year alongside more than 40 other countries, but did not attend a subsequent meeting in Malta later in the year. The meetings, which did not include Russia, focused on Mr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace proposal, which has the support of Kyiv’s Western allies.

Mr Cassis said he did not expect Russia to attend the forthcoming peace conference but insisted that the goal must be to find a format that included Moscow.

“Of course we will invite Russia, and I’ve already talked to [Russian foreign minister] Mr [Sergei] Lavrov, but I can understand that it is too early for them. But the target must be to have Russia at the table,” he said.

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The Ukrainian peace formula calls for a restoration of the country’s territory to its control, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, the safeguarding of nuclear sites and the facilitation of grain exports. Kyiv and Moscow took part in peace talks in the weeks following Russia’s invasion two years ago but both sides have set preconditions for the resumption of direct talks.

Ukraine says it will not enter such talks until Russia withdraws all its forces from its territory, and Moscow has ruled out direct negotiations unless Kyiv recognises its annexation of four Ukrainian provinces. The date and venue of the Swiss peace conference have yet to be set, but Mr Cassis said it was likely to be the first of two or three before Russia joined the talks.

“It would be a process that needs to open up to a discussion of all the different ideas of peace that exist. It is illusory to imagine that a peace plan would be immediately accepted by everyone, but acceptance by everyone and especially by the two parties at war is fundamental. So it’s a question, I believe, of having the courage to open a path which will not be easy or quick, but we want to do it as quickly as possible.” he said.

“We have no time to waste. Every day that passes, there are victims, there are deaths, there is destruction. So we have no time to waste.”

China’s official position on the war is a neutral one and it has asserted its support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. But Beijing has offered diplomatic and economic support to Moscow throughout the war.

“I’m interested in getting help from China because China has great relations with Russia,” Mr Cassis said.

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