Ukraine anger toward Switzerland over peace plan a ‘misunderstanding’

Schmyhal discussed the subject with Cassis at the Ukraine Mine Action Conference in Lausanne last week. Keystone-SDA

According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the anger toward Switzerland over the Sino-Brazilian peace plan was due to a "misunderstanding". He said that he did not doubt Switzerland's support on the road to peace.

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In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Monday, Schmyhal said that a Swiss representative had attended an event organised by Brazil and China as an observer on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The representative did not agree to the negotiation plan.

“We have clarified this issue. It was a misunderstanding,” said the Ukrainian prime minister.

+ Switzerland welcomes China-Brazil peace initiative for Ukraine

There was no doubt that Switzerland supports the path to peace on the basis of the UN Charter and international law, he added. Everyone is convinced that for the next peace summit, a compromise will need to be found with Brazil, China and India.

Schmyhal wanted to point out that Ukraine was grateful to Switzerland “for organising the Bürgenstock peace conference [last June] and supporting President [Volodymyr] Zelensky’s peace formula.” He discussed this with the Swiss president, Viola Amherd, and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis last Thursday. Schmyhal was in Lausanne to take part in the Ukraine Mine Action Conference.

Kyiv expressed displeasure

At the end of September, Ukraine expressed its displeasure at Swiss support for a peace plan presented by China and Brazil for an end to the Russian-Ukrainian war. “All initiatives that do not contain a clear reference to the UN Charter and do not guarantee the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity are unacceptable,” the foreign ministry in Kiev wrote in a commentary.

Switzerland supports the initiative by China and Brazil because it calls for a ceasefire and a political solution to the conflict, a spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Translated from German with DeepL/gw

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