“The initiative of China and Brazil provides for the freezing of the conflict on the current front line, a ceasefire and the start of peace talks”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also says that peace initiatives, similar to the Sino-Brazilian one, “only create the illusion of dialogue, while the aggressor continues his criminal actions.” Official Kyiv calls the “peace formula” proposed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the only way to a “just peace” – it involves the withdrawal of Russian troops from the entire internationally recognized territory of Ukraine. Earlier, Moscow categorically rejected this demand.
At the meeting in New York, the participants announced the creation of the “Friends of Peace” initiative with the participation of neutral countries in support of the earlier initiative of China and Brazil regarding the principles of a peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Switzerland, which is not a member of the military alliance, but joined the sanctions introduced by the EU against Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine, organized the first peace summit in June with the participation of dozens of countries. Their representatives discussed the Ukrainian “peace formula”. Russia was not invited to the forum, and China and several other influential countries of the so-called “global south” did not participate in it.
According to DW, on September 27, the official representative of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nicolas Bideau, said that his country approves of the peace initiative regarding Ukraine proposed by China and Brazil, as it calls for the establishment of a ceasefire regime and is aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict. He emphasized that a reference to the UN Charter was added to the document published by China and Brazil in May and already criticized by Ukraine. This was enough for Switzerland to change its view on this initiative. “This initiative is important because it offers an alternative to the bellicose speeches delivered this week at the UN by both the Ukrainian and Russian sides,” the Swissinfo online publication quoted a foreign ministry representative as saying.
The China-Brazil initiative involves freezing the conflict on the current front line, a ceasefire and the start of peace talks.
Moscow refrained from directly criticizing the initiative of Brazil and China, which are part of the BRICS group together with Russia. However, the Russian Federation did not agree with such an initiative. Russian President Vladimir Putin directly put forward other conditions for the start of peace talks – he demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions of Ukraine, as well as Kyiv’s formal refusal to join NATO.
Such countries as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Algeria, and Bolivia declared their agreement to join the “Friends of Peace” platform at the UN. Many of them have friendly relations with Moscow and did not condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Switzerland, Hungary and France took part in the September 27 meeting as observers. The position of Hungary is close to the position of China and Brazil, on the other hand, France is actively supporting Ukraine. US Secretary of State Joe Biden indirectly criticized the initiative, saying that Beijing’s actions should match its words, which has not yet happened.
China, Brazil and 10 other countries, following the results of the meeting, also warned against the use of nuclear weapons during the conflict. Since Ukraine does not have such weapons, the call is obviously addressed to Russia. The document was adopted against the backdrop of recent statements by President Vladimir Putin about changing Russia’s nuclear doctrine.