India On Ukraine Peace Summit In Switzerland That Russia Will Skip

The Swiss government has announced that it will host a high-level peace conference in June to end the Russia-Ukraine war. It hopes Russia will attend even if not on the first day. India has welcomed the initiative and said, "We are open to all such initiatives for peace. You know our position in the Russia-Ukraine war."

The conference will take place at the luxury Burgenstock resort near the central city of Luzern on June 15-16 and will be hosted by Swiss President Viola Amherd. "This is a first step in a process towards a lasting peace," she said.

India has said that it is open to ideas which can achieve peace.

"We have consistently maintained that there should be dialogue and diplomacy. So, we have also participated in the Copenhagen formula. We are open to ideas which can achieve peace," the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The conference will be aimed at establishing "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," the Swiss government said.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has condemned the event as being part of a scheme by US President Joe Biden's Democratic Party ahead of this year's presidential election.

"American Democrats, who need photos and videos of events that supposedly indicate their project 'Ukraine' is still afloat, are behind this," the state-run TASS news agency in Russia quoted foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

The Swiss Peace Plan

The Swiss government said in January, during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that it wanted to organise a peace conference this year.

In a statement on Wednesday, it "took note of the results of the exploratory phase of the high-level conference on peace in Ukraine".

It determined that "there is currently sufficient international support for a high-level conference to launch the peace process."

Russia's Absence

During his Switzerland visit, Zelensky spoke of a "summit" without any Russian participation.

But traditionally neutral Switzerland, meanwhile, hopes to get Russia into later talks.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York in January.

Russia, angered by the Swiss decision to follow the neighbouring European Union in imposing sanctions, has charged the country can no longer be considered neutral.

On Wednesday, Cassis acknowledged Russia's absence from the table but stressed that the aim was to include Moscow in future talks. "A peace process cannot happen without Russia, even though it will not be there during the first meeting," he said.

Switzerland did not disclose who would be attending, but Swiss media reports said US President Joe Biden would be on the list.