Kyiv will be forced to agree to negotiations with Russia — Swiss Foreign Minister

Peace between Russia and Ukraine will not be achieved until both sides are at the negotiating table.

This was stated by Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

He noted that this has become “obvious.” The newspaper points out that by making this statement, the politician set a “new tone,” recommending that the West “insist” in Kyiv on Russia’s participation in the next negotiations.

In his opinion, as long as Ukraine does not show a principled readiness for diplomacy, there will be no diplomatic solution to the conflict. Cassis considers the establishment of peace in Ukraine in the near future “realistic.” He sees the shortage of weapons on both sides as a prerequisite for this.

“The fact that he means Ukraine in particular goes without saying, given the course of the fighting in favor of Russia,” the newspaper continues.

According to Ignazio Cassis, the parties are merely trying to “create facts on the battlefield in recent days to secure a better starting position for any negotiations.”

The Swiss minister insists that Bern can still serve as an effective mediator for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. In Cassis’s view, the conference in Bürgenstock was an “intermediate step towards peace.”

In response to journalists’ comments that Moscow no longer considers Switzerland neutral, Cassis said that such statements are merely “military rhetoric.” He emphasizes that “diplomatic circles will confirm that he has good personal relations with his Russian counterpart.”

Cassis is confident that Sergei Lavrov sees him as a “reliable interlocutor in the West” and that Bern still “does not need to fear talking to everyone.”