The Kremlin has continued blasting the international Ukraine peace summit which was held in Burgenstock, Switzerland over the weekend, with spokeswoman Maria Zakharova highlighting that the Alpine "get-together" produced zero results.
Though there were almost 100 countries represented, Zakharova said that this attempt to involve as many countries of the Global South as possible "has failed". She further described that the whole effort at putting on a "universal event" while at the same time talking more weapons deliveries to Kiev behind the scenes was all about trying to "camouflage" the West's continued aggressive intentions.
Decrying the Zelensky peace formula, she added that "Its authors in the United States and on Bankovaya Street are trying to portray it as the only foundation for a peace settlement."
Notably Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and the UAE did not sign the summit's final communique. Additionally, Brazil was present as an "observer" but also did not sign.
She went on to state...
They are not interested in peace in Ukraine, they need further confrontation, escalation and expanded hostilities to implement their unrealizable dream of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia.
Just the day prior to the start of Saturday's two-day Swiss summit, President Putin had listed key conditions for peaceful settlement, centered on Ukrainian troops leaving the four annexed eastern territories, as well as Kiev giving up all aspirations to join NATO.
Leaders gathered in Switzerland had rejected the overture as but more "propaganda" - and said it would be tantamount to Ukraine's total capitulation.
The Kremlin now says that the next formal proposal on the horizon will be a document of the Ukrainian government's surrender. This was stated by Russia’s chief delegate to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, in a Rossiya-24 television interview.
"There are points of no return. The next thing that Russia will have to offer will be the document about [the Kiev government’s] surrender," he said. He called last week's proposals by Putin "realistic" and said they could end the war if they were embraced.
The joint communique issued by the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland is the most bland and unremarkable document that probably could've been produced. The main points are that nuclear facilities must be safeguarded, global food security must be uninterrupted, and Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/7c0Swyy7kn
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 18, 2024
"Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions," Putin had said in a televised address. "As soon as Kyiv says it is ready to do this and begins really withdrawing troops and officially renounces plans to join NATO, we will immediately — literally that very minute — cease-fire and begin talks," he asserted.
But Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday echoed the consensus of leaders gathered with Zelensky in Burgenstock, on Saturday saying this "seems to me more like a propaganda move than a real one."
"If President Putin’s proposal is: We are willing to have a peace negotiation if Ukraine recognizes the invasion of Ukraine and gives up the occupied parts... doesn’t seem particularly effective to me as a proposal," Meloni said.
