Political analyst: The summit in Switzerland should find a formula for peace, but not a mechanism for its implementation
2 May 2024 16:55
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
The Global Peace Summit to be held on 15-16 June in Switzerland will contribute to progress on ending the Russian-Ukrainian war, but we should not expect anything fundamentally breakthrough from it. This opinion was expressed by political expert Igor Reiterovich in an exclusive commentary for "Komersant Ukrainian".
The political analyst believes that the presence at the summit and the actions of those countries that take a massively neutral position are particularly important.
“We should definitely expect maximum representativeness from this summit, i.e. the presence of many countries, as stated, from all continents. But it is important that there are representatives of countries that have a detached or neutral position on the Russian-Ukrainian war,”
– the expert said.
Obviously, he means that the adoption of a consolidated position on the peace formula at the summit will help to attract these countries to support Ukraine at least at the level of cohesion around a favourable formula.
“We should expect the development of a final formula that will be acceptable to most civilised countries to resolve the problems of the Russian-Ukrainian war, restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and state sovereignty,” Reuters said,
– reiterovich said.
At the same time, the expert added that the summit can hardly be expected to agree on specific mechanisms for implementing the formula.
“First of all, it will be a certain declaration that the civilised world is basically on our side, and then more practical work will begin, in separate subgroups, perhaps even with the involvement of Russia, as Kuleba said today. But we don’t know yet what the format of involvement will be. I think a lot depends on the presence or absence of China at this summit,”
– believes Igor Reiterovich.
Global peace summit
It is not yet known whether China will participate in the summit, but according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry, more than 160 delegations have been invited, including, for example, Russia’s allies in the BRICS.
“Switzerland has invited more than 160 delegations at the level of heads of state and government to participate in the first Peace Summit in Ukraine on 15 and 16 June 2024 in Burgenstock. Among them are members of the G7, G20, BRICS, numerous other countries from all continents, as well as the EU, three international organisations (UN, OSCE and Council of Europe) and two religious representatives (Vatican and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople),”
– the statement said.
Switzerland notes that the summit will be based on the discussions that have taken place in recent months, in particular on the Ukrainian peace formula and other peace proposals based on the UN Charter and key principles of international law. The main goal of the summit is to inspire the future peace process. To achieve this, the Summit intends to
- provide a platform for dialogue on how to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine based on international law and the UN Charter;
- promote a common understanding of a possible framework for achieving this goal;
- jointly define a roadmap on how to engage both sides in the future peace process.
What does the Ukrainian “peace formula” envisage?
on 11 October 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced to the leaders of the G7 countries a “peace formula” to overcome the Russian threat. It includes the withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities, defence support for Ukraine, protection of its territorial integrity, and punishment for those responsible for armed aggression. The formula also provides for counteracting ecocide and recording the end of the war.
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would not negotiate on the basis of Zelenskyy’s “peace formula”.
