About 90 countries to take part in Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit. Russia won’t attend
OBBUERGEN, Switzerland — Nearly 90 countries and organizations — half from Europe — have confirmed they will attend a Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit, Switzerland’s president said Monday. However, Russia won’t be there.
Moscow has not been invited but says it would not have attended anyway as the conference is based on the peace proposals of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia rejects.
President Viola Amherd told reporters in the Swiss capital, Bern, that the summit, on Saturday and Sunday, will aim to chart a path toward possible peace nearly 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and as the war grinds on.
“This is not about propaganda,” Amherd said. “This is about the basis of humanitarian aid provided by Switzerland, based on fostering peace [and] to provide a platform to initiate a dialogue.”
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has mocked a planned round of Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, warning that Moscow will not accept enforced agreements.
The Swiss president said that most participants would be top country leaders, with about half represented at the head of state or government level, and “a handful” from organizations such as the United Nations.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are expected to attend the summit at the Buergenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne in the village of Obbuergen.
Vice President Kamala Harris will attend on behalf of the United States. President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, will join Harris as part of the U.S. delegation.
About 160 invitations have been sent out and Amherd said it was not a “disappointment” for the Swiss government that fewer than 100 have said they will participate in the first phase of the peace process.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused China of helping Russia to disrupt a Swiss-organized peace conference on the war in Ukraine.
Swiss authorities said the final list of participants was expected by Friday, but key developing countries such as Turkey, South Africa and Brazil haven’t indicated whether they would attend. India they said, will take part but it iis unclear at which level.
Brazil and China said they wouldn’t take part unless both sides in the war were at the table, according to Swiss officials. Beijing has been one of the top supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the war started, and has said the criteria for its participation will be “hard to meet.”
Ignazio Cassis, Switzerland’s foreign minister and former president, also addressed reporters, saying his country has repeatedly acknowledged that there cannot be a peace process without Russia. “The question is not whether Russia will be on board, the question is when.”
He also said Switzerland is in frequent contact with authorities in Moscow about the conference.
Ukraine has helped coordinate the summit, and Zelensky is expected to attend. Cassis said Swiss officials had to balance considerations that Ukraine might not have attended if Russia was represented.
The Kremlin says a draft agreement between Russia and Ukraine negotiated in 2022 could serve as a starting point for prospective talks to end the war.
Zelenskyy has gone on a diplomatic push to try and attract attendees to the summit. He has also accused China and Russia of trying to undermine it. The Swiss-hosted conference comes on the heels of the Group of 7 summit in neighboring Italy.
Swiss officials say the conference aims to set a course toward “lasting peace” in Ukraine, to reach a “common understanding” toward getting there, and draw up the “roadmap” on how to get both sides involved in talks. Nuclear security, humanitarian aid and food security are also on the summit’s agenda.
As many as 4,000 military personnel will be deployed to provide security, support air transportation and surveillance, as well as roll out security fencing and steel wire for the event, officials said, adding that an increase in cyberattacks in the run-up to the summit was noted, but didn’t provide details.
In a Swiss valley deep below a mountain ridge where the resort sits, Swiss troops set up a makeshift heliport in a grassy field ringed by barbed wire Monday in preparation for the summit as cowbells clanged nearby.
Keaten writes for the Associated Press.
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