Switzerland to host Ukraine peace conference in June
Switzerland has announced a Ukraine peace conference for 15 June. The government in Bern said that there was sufficient international support for a high-level meeting to initiate the peace process, in response to a corresponding request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia has already announced that it will not be attending. What can the initiative achieve?
Not to be confused with negotiations
Political scientist Iliya Kusa examines the goals of the conference in Telegraf:
“The peace summit itself is not a peace negotiation or an attempt to resolve the conflict. All it can do is produce a political declaration for which we hope to collect as many signatures as possible. Then we will 'sell' this declaratively agreed position and try to impose it on Russia - at future negotiations to which the Russian side will also be invited. ... The Kremlin will work to ensure that the Ukrainian peace formula is rejected and that the negotiations are transferred from Switzerland to a platform that is more neutral from the Russian perspective. Turkey or Saudi Arabia, for example.”
Grasping at any straw
Beijing seems more open than expected to cooperating with the Swiss initiative, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung observes:
“The path to achieving peace with Russia may actually be via China. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected in Beijing in May. At the Bürgenstock conference in mid-June, the Chinese delegation will therefore know exactly on what points the Kremlin is prepared to make concessions. Switzerland provides the platform, China delivers the message. ... Peace is still a long way off, however. ... But in an atmosphere that feels like the whole world is in a pre-war period, any straw is worth grasping at.”
Which plan will prevail?
Xi's 12-point plan from February 2023 will have to be taken into account, warns La Stampa:
“Switzerland already announced in January that it wanted to organise a peace summit at the request of the Ukrainian president. It is therefore likely that the talks will take Zelensky's 10-point peace plan as a starting point, [a plan] which aims to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which has been invaded by Kremlin troops and devastated by a cruel war. Moscow, however, favours the 12-point peace plan proposed by China, which has been met with scepticism by the US and other Western countries.”