Geneva: Switzerland on Thursday sent out official invitations to more than 160 delegations ahead of June’s Ukraine peace conference - though Moscow was not among the invitees.
The peace talks are scheduled to take place on June 15-16 at the Bürgenstock resort on Lake Lucerne. Global leaders are expected to be in attendance.
“Russia has not been invited at this stage,” a Swiss statement said.
Moscow has said several times in public that Russia would not participate in the event, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said.
“Switzerland is convinced that Russia must be involved in the course of this process. A peace process without Russia is unthinkable,” the statement said.
The conference is not aimed at involving Russia, but seeks to bring together countries that have a shared understanding of the steps towards a solution, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Foreign Policy, a US magazine. (DPA)
