Ukraine peace talks should include Russia, Chinese diplomat says

7/5/2024 12:29

        Beijing supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with Russia's RIA state news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.
        
        "China supports a timely convening of an international peace conference, approved by the Russian and Ukrainian sides, with equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all options for peace," RIA cited the ambassador as saying.
        
        Switzerland will host talks during a two-day high-level conference on June 15-16 aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine, to which Moscow has not been invited. On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a visit to France, appeared to be lukewarm on the Swiss conference.
        
        Moscow has said it sees no point in Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, while Kyiv has said it sees no place at the summit, held near the Swiss city of Lucerne, for Russia.
        
        Beijing put forward a 12-point paper more than a year ago that set out general principles for ending the war but did not get into specifics.