In June, the Swiss government will host an international conference to determine the path to peace in Ukraine after more than two years of war, in the hope that Russia could one day join the peace process.
The meeting will be held on June 15 and 16 in the Birgenstock hotel complex near Lucerne, the Swiss government announced today.
It is expected to bring together high-ranking state officials from dozens of countries, based on a plan prepared in recent months by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignacio Cassis.
"The first country we talked to, after Ukraine of course, was Russia because the peace process cannot happen without Russia, although it will not be there for the first meeting," Kassis told reporters today in the Swiss capital, Bern.
The Swiss daily Noe Züricher Zeitung reported today that US President Joseph Biden, who is expected to be in Italy at the time, at the meeting of the G7 leaders, could also attend the meeting. The White House has not yet indicated whether he will participate.
The Swiss government said earlier talks on hosting the conference included the European Union and delegates from the so-called Global South, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
The federal government in Bern said that at its meeting, held today, it was concluded that there is currently enough international support for a high-level conference to start the peace process.
The government admitted that there are some unknowns about the conference, but that given the long-standing Swiss diplomatic tradition and the encouraging reactions during the investigative phase, it considers it its responsibility to contribute to the peace process in Ukraine.
"The conditions for the conference to stimulate the peace process have been met to a sufficient extent. At first, it will be about developing a common understanding among the participating countries, on the path that should be followed towards a global, just and lasting peace in Ukraine," the Swiss government announced.
Much of the diplomatic uncertainty concerns whether key Russian ally China will participate, with Kassis pushing for Beijing's support for the Swiss effort during a visit to China last month.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced earlier that Beijing supports the conference, which is accepted by both Russia and Ukraine, which is not the case for now.
The spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said today that the conference on peace in Ukraine organized by Switzerland is a "project of the American Democrats", the party of US President Joseph Biden, and that Moscow will not attend.
"Behind all of this are the American democrats who want pictures and videos of such an event to show that their project 'Ukraine' is still relevant," Zakharova said, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned last Sunday that planned talks to end the war in Ukraine can only succeed if Moscow's interests are taken into account, dismissing the planned peace talks as a Western ploy to drum up wider international support for Kiev.
Ukrainian and Swiss authorities have announced that dozens of countries have been consulted as part of diplomatic efforts around the proposed conference.
Bonus video:
