A peace summit on Ukraine is scheduled to take place in Switzerland in mid-June. Whether the meeting is successful could also depend on China. Chancellor Scholz is counting on the country to take part. On Saturday he travels to the People’s Republic.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that Russia-friendly countries such as China, Brazil and South Africa will also take part in the Ukraine peace summit planned for mid-June. A day before his trip to China, he pointed out that Beijing had taken part in one of the preparatory meetings at the advisory level. China is considered Russia’s most important ally.
Germany has always supported the process that led to the conference, emphasized the Chancellor after a meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Iraqi Kobachidze in Berlin. Now it’s a matter of organizing this summit in such a way that “large participation” from all over the world – for example from Arab countries, China, South Africa or Brazil – is possible.
The AFP news agency reports that Scholz wants to warn China during his visit to assert its influence on Russia and to push for an end to the war of aggression in Ukraine. The federal government assumes that the People’s Republic “has the opportunity to influence Russia because of the close relations between China and Russia,” according to government circles in Berlin.
When the three-day trip was announced, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that, among other things, the Chancellor wanted to explore the extent to which China could influence Russia and its conduct of war in Ukraine. “Our wish would be for China to be able to use the influence it has on Russia in order to contribute to a more peaceful development in the Ukraine conflict,” said Hebestreit.
Summit planned for June 15th and 16th
The leadership in Beijing presented a position paper on the Ukraine conflict last year and most recently sent a special envoy to Europe to discuss it in March. Western diplomats assume that the summit’s chances of success depend on China’s participation. In addition to China, three other members of the G20 group of leading economic powers are also closely linked to Russia: Brazil, South Africa and India.
Russia itself should not be invited to the summit, Ukraine should. The meeting is scheduled to take place on June 15th and 16th in neutral Switzerland. Among other things, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s so-called peace formula will be discussed. This calls for an unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied areas of Ukraine.
The Russian attackers, however, insist on peace on their terms. This includes the retention of previous conquests as well as Ukraine’s renunciation of NATO membership and a powerful army.
Kremlin refers to old draft
With a view to the peace conference, the Kremlin has now declared that the basis for new negotiations could be an agreement between Russia and Ukraine on a peace agreement that was negotiated shortly after the start of the war, but ultimately failed. But Moscow is making additional demands. “New territories are now enshrined in our constitution, which was not the case two years ago,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax news agency.
At the end of March 2022 – about a month after the attack on Ukraine – there were indications that Moscow’s planned capture of Kiev would fail. At that time, negotiators from Ukraine and Russia agreed on a preliminary agreement at talks in Istanbul to end the hostilities. The paper reportedly contained conditions for Ukraine to remain neutral. The size of their armed forces should also be limited. However, the agreement was not implemented, among other things because disagreements remained over territorial demands.
War started under pretext
Russia started the war with the pretext of wanting to “liberate” the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. In the meantime, Russia has declared these two regions as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as their own national territory in the constitution – although it only partially controls them militarily. The annexation is contrary to international law.
Another reason for the failure is that the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainian civilians in Kiev suburbs such as Bucha became known at the time. This made it impossible for Ukraine to reach an agreement.