ASTANA, May 21. /TASS/. Switzerland’s conference on Ukraine is aimed only at discussing Zelensky's so-called peace formula as an ultimatum, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"The Swiss conference is convened only to discuss Zelensky's 'peace formula' as an ultimatum," the top diplomat told the media after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers' Council.

Speaking about China’s peace initiative, the minister pointed out that "it provides for the need to understand the root causes of the situation, when the West decided to use Ukraine to sabotage Russia’s legitimate interests." "The Chinese initiative envisages looking at the root causes and reaching an agreement to eliminate these causes by ensuring in practice the principle of equal and indivisible security, where the security of all participating states is equally guaranteed. It is impossible to disagree with this," Lavrov added.

The top Russian diplomat pointed to the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping, while discussing the Ukrainian issue with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris, "clearly articulated that the Chinese side will support the convention of an international conference, which will reflect the interests of both Russia and Ukraine equally and will be based on a large number of ideas and initiatives." "And the Swiss conference is being convened only to discuss Zelensky's so-called peace formula as an ultimatum," Lavrov pointed out. "It’s no wonder that the Swiss themselves, including diplomats, say that this conference is not about building bridges for concluding peace, but about supporting Ukraine," he emphasized.

The foreign minister also underscored that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell himself said that Zelensky's peace formula was the only initiative to be discussed. "Other proposals, as he said, disappeared a few weeks ago. And other proposals were put forward by African countries, Brazil, the League of Arab States, as well as China," Lavrov concluded.