by: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
While according to data, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched an offensive in Kharkiv and since May 10 Russian troops on Ukraine’s northern border have been destroying “enemy positions” and advancing on the ground with optimum comfort and pace, being unable to maintain their areas of control, the Ukrainians are retreating and allowing Russians to make rapid and effective progress, on May 12, a brutal attack by neo-Nazis in Kiev hit the Belgorod region thus destroying several buildings in residential areas causing death of innocent civilians. At this junction, when it is well-anticipated that Kiev forces will soon face a humiliating defeat, which may result in the fleeing of Volodymyr Zelensky and his aides, a so-called peace conference in expected to take place in Switzerland on June 15-16, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sees as an attempt of issuing an ultimatum to Russia. The summit will be held at the Bürgenstock resort in the canton of Nidwalden.
Swiss authorities said, “the summit aims to establish a forum for a high-level dialogue on ways to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine in accordance with international law and the UN Charter. It aims to create a common understanding of a framework favorable to this objective and a concrete roadmap for the peace process”.
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in a press release said the invited delegations include members of the G7, G20, BRICS, EU, international organizations and two religious representatives.
The Swiss conference is being arranged at the request of Volodymyr Zelensky, where 160 delegations from around the world are invited, while Bern did not invite Moscow making this event as ridiculous and an attempt of giving fuel to Zelensky’s willingness of continuing the war for an indefinite period.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Sergey Lavrov stressed that “the conference has long been the talk of all those who are trying to defeat Russia on the battlefield”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, replying to a question during his remarks at the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly said, “Switzerland is not fit enough as a venue for peace talks. Formerly it was a neutral country. Its territory as that of the other neutral countries (Austria, Finland, Sweden) hosted various conferences, because its platform was comfortable for everybody. Currently, Bern has unequivocally sided with Ukraine. And it is not just supports all Western sanctions, but in some issues even acts as the leader”.
Lavrov was asked – is the conference on Ukrainian issue convened by the West in Switzerland this June a potential threat to Russia’s foreign policy interests? What are our plans of opposing and counteracting the destructive plots of the Kiev regime and its foreign supervisors?
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, “The conference has long been discussed by all those who is trying to defeat Russia on the battlefield, without rejecting diplomatic methods, as they say. However, their diplomatic methods (the conference in Switzerland is not an exception but just a continuation of the process in Copenhagen format) boil down to formulating an ultimatum to Russia”.
He further said: In January I was in New York to attend UN Security Council meetings on Palestine and Ukraine issue. Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis asked for a one-on-one meeting. He said that they planned such a conference. He said that we don’t need to worry about not being invited there because they have to talk among themselves first, and then with us. That’s no way to talk to anybody, especially Russia. I frankly explained it all to him.
The other day Mr. Cassis said again that it was senseless to discuss anything without Russia. Why to convene it then? Vladimir Zelensky bluntly said the same what the Swiss told me in private: that they have to form a coalition and finally consolidate the “formula” first and then present it to Russia. It’s not about negotiation. Even if they invited us right away, we would still be invited to discuss the Zelensky formula.
There were a lot of initiatives: offered by the China, South Africa, Brazil and the League of the Arab States (who came to us soon after the beginning of the special military operation). The Chinese one was most comprehensive, aimed at first considering the root causes and working on their removal. The other had an emphasis on humanitarian aspects (exchange of POWs, bodies, access for humanitarian organizations). Yet High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that they were getting ready for a conference in Geneva on the Zelensky formula and all other initiative vanished. He decided for everyone else again.
If the West wants to fight on the battlefield (as they say) – they are welcome. The Finnish President said again of late that the Swiss conference is important, but they need to defeat Russia in the war, to weaken it so it’s no longer a threat. You know the scare stories that they have invented and are constantly replicating.
Our readiness for talks is reaffirmed at the top level personally by President of Russia Vladimir Putin each time he deals with the Ukraine issue. The President explains the basis, on which we will be prepared to do it: everybody’s recognition of the established realities, including amendments to the Russian Constitution. Not only in word, but in deed. Everybody knows and remembers that in Istanbul we were just a step away from signing an initialed document thereby completing the special military operation. As Kiev regime sponsors say now, on conditions very favorable for Ukraine. Our political scientists are of the same opinion. I agree with this.
That case was the last time when the Russian leadership, despite many previous deceits by the West, made up its mind to believe and display its good will. Deceived again and made us fight.
Whatever is the agenda, Switzerland is not fit enough as a venue for peace talks. Formerly it was a neutral country. Its territory as that of the other neutral countries (Austria, Finland, Sweden) hosted various conferences, because its platform was comfortable for everybody. Currently, Bern has unequivocally sided with Ukraine. And it is not just supports all Western sanctions, but in some issues even acts as the leader. I note in parentheses that Switzerland began to drift from neutrality much earlier than today’s Ukrainian situation. The Americans “twisted their arms” many years ago and the Swiss substantially opened (and now practically fully opened) all aspects of the bank secret, although once it was a symbol of neutrality.
Our cause is right. If they want it on the battlefield then it will be so. Look how they are lamenting over a steady and extensive advance of our Armed Forces.
In a Reuters commentary titled ‘Ukraine peace summit pushes neutral Swiss toward Western embrace’, Dave Graham wrote, “An upcoming Ukraine peace summit, ostensibly the most ambitious bid in years by neutral Switzerland to mediate a major conflict, is instead showing how Swiss economic and security interests increasingly align with Western Europe over Russia.
“This is the view of both Swiss advocates of closer cooperation with Western powers and nationalist opponents who say Switzerland is abandoning its neutral tradition and should limit the scope for foreign entanglements”.
Thomas Borer, a former Swiss ambassador to Germany, told Reuters, Switzerland’s business and security interests are overwhelmingly tied to Western Europe, North America and their allies, making it strategically imperative to stand with Ukraine.
Ambassador Borer’s comment clearly proves – Switzerland is clearly inclined towards the Western nation’s agenda centering the Ukraine war, while on the other hand, Volodymyr Zelensky is attempting to somehow project himself as a victor by ending the war with false claim of succeeding in defeating Russia with the help of his Western and or NATO allies. The Swiss conference is a tricky bid in favor of Zelensky, which certainly cannot be accepted by Moscow as it would greatly undermine Russia’s sovereignty and ground reality of Russia heading towards a huge victory in the war. In my opinion, the United States and its NATO allies by now also have realized – their proxy war in Ukraine is almost at the verge of humiliating defeat. That is why they have become desperate in somehow forcing Russia to leave Ukraine by declaring an end to the war. Moreover, for US President Joe Biden, Ukraine war will be one of the prominent factors during this November’s presidential elections, where he is going to face few more challenges including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and now Rafah. Unless these wars end by November, Biden’s reelection ambition shall be totally doomed. Republican Party’s candidate Donald Trump will win a landslide.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning journalist, writer, research-scholar, counterterrorism specialist and Editor, Blitz, a newspaper publishing from Bangladesh since 2003. He regularly writes for local and international newspapers. Follow him on X @Salah_Shoaib
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