Switzerland Invites India To Participate In Summit On Peace In Ukraine Next Month

Bern: Switzerland has invited India to participate in the Summit on Peace in Ukraine next month. This is an effort by the Swiss, a traditionally neutral country, to end the two year long war between Russia and Ukraine.

As the Swiss have said, the aim of the meeting on June 15 and 16, “is to develop a common understanding of a path towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” The meeting, at the Burgenstock resort, will be right after the G7 summit in Italy.

While India has been invited and is expected to participate, it is not clear what will be the level of participation. Will the PM, Narendra Modi, or external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, attend? It is, importantly, right after the Indian Lok Sabha election results on June 4 and after that, it’s a question of ministry formation, depending on the results. India is likely to reply to the invitation very shortly.

More importantly, will the Russians participate? So far, the Russians have not been invited as they have repeatedly said they don’t want to participate, the Swiss have said. But the Swiss believe the Russians must be involved in the process and a summit without Russia is unthinkable.

But the G7 countries, most certainly, will be there as well as most, if not all the EU countries. Altogether, Switzerland has issued 160 invitations. Ukraine is very likely to participate but whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is taking part is not known.

The meeting will have three major objectives. It will “provide a platform for dialogue on ways towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine based on international law and the UN Charter.” It will “promote a common understanding of a possible framework to reach this goal and jointly define a roadmap on how to involve both parties in a future peace process.”

The war, over two years old, has led to enormous bloodshed and has hurt the world’s economy, particularly the South countries, including India. International food, fuel and fertiliser prices are all high, affecting many poor countries.