MOSCOW: Russia said that it saw no point in attending a conference in Switzerland to discuss how to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Switzerland is expected to host the talks June 15-16 at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said more than 100 countries would be invited to the gathering.
“The first country that we spoke with, after Ukraine, of course, was Russia, because a peace process cannot happen without Russia, even if it won’t be there for the first meeting,” Cassis told reporters in the Swiss capital, Bern.
“We know that it doesn’t make sense to have Russia at the table if you cannot ensure that they act in good faith,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published this week.
Kuleba said putting pressure on Russia on the battlefield and bringing together countries “who share principles” should help to make Moscow more willing to engage in dialog.
The conference is “practically the first real chance to start restoring a just peace,” Zelenskyy said Thursday in his nightly video message.
The Swiss government said Thursday that Russia was not currently invited to the conference. It said it was open to including Russia, but Moscow repeatedly expressed it had no interest.
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