Moscow, Apr. 12, (dpa/GNA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized a high-level international peace conference on Ukraine in June being planned for June in Switzerland.
Russia will not be invited to the conference, but at the same time it will be clear that nothing can be decided without Moscow, Putin said at a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
“And because we are not going there, people are now saying that we are refusing to negotiate. This is a real panopticon,” Putin asserted.
On Wednesday, the Russian embassy in Bern said that Russia was not invited, but would not take part in the meeting even if invited.
According to Putin, Ukraine manoeuvred itself into a corner by breaking off negotiations two years ago – shortly after the start of the war.
The other side thought that Russia could be defeated on the battlefield. But this turned out to be impossible, Putin surmised.
Moscow is ready to negotiate, but not on schemes “that have nothing to do with reality,” the Russian president said.
Among the topics on the conference’s agenda is a peace formula put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky has called for a withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied areas of Ukraine.
Moscow, on the other hand, insists on peace on its terms. This includes the retention of previous conquests as well as Ukraine becoming a demilitarized, neutral country that renounces NATO membership.