Switzerland has voiced support for a joint roadmap by China and Brazil to end the Ukraine conflict. The revelation has raised eyebrows in Kiev, as officials vented frustration at an apparent change of heart by the Alpine nation that hosted a Western-dominated Ukraine ‘peace summit’ this summer.
On Friday, China and Brazil tried to advance their bid to mediate hostilities at a 17-nation meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. In May, the two nations presented a joint proposal calling for de-escalation, negotiations, and an international peace conference recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.
Switzerland was one of the countries attending the meeting as an observer, and in the aftermath of the sit-down, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nicolas Bideau told Reuters that Bern “supports this dynamic.”
He said that Switzerland viewed a reference to the UN Charter added to the plan as a game changer. “For us, this translates into a significant change in our view of these initiatives,” Bideau said, adding that “a concrete diplomatic effort organized by the Sino-Brazilian group could be of interest to us.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has criticized Switzerland’s stance on the plan, saying that “any initiatives that… do not guarantee the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity are unacceptable,” and denying that it makes a clear reference to the UN Charter. This “only creates the illusion of dialogue, while the aggressor continues its criminal actions,” the ministry explained.
“We cannot understand the logic of such a decision. After all, we, together with the Swiss Confederation, organized the First Global Peace Summit on June 15-16 in Burgenstock,” the statement read.
The ministry reiterated that it sees Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’ – which, among other things, calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from territory claimed by Ukraine – as the only viable path to peace. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the initiative as detached from reality.
The Swiss-hosted summit on Ukraine revolved around several other points of Kiev’s formula, including nuclear and food security and prisoner exchanges. Russia was not invited to attend.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that Moscow is ready to immediately open peace talks with Ukraine once it withdraws troops from Donbass and two of its other former regions and commit to neutral status. He later signaled that for the talks to begin, Russia would first have to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk Region on the border.
