ST. PETERSBURG, June 8. /TASS/. Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora ordered the government to skip the Swiss-hosted conference on Ukraine, Bolivian Ambassador to Russia Maria Luisa Ramos Urzagaste told TASS.
"President Luis Arce Catacora has ordered our government not to participate in any schemes that do not take into account the genuine interests of the conflicting countries and don’t even analyze the deep roots of the crisis," she said. "During the official visit of the Bolivian president to the Russian Federation, we had an opportunity to analyze various issues on the geopolitical agenda and we see with alarm that there are intentions of some forces to provoke conflicts and confrontation in different regions of the world."
According to the ambassador, Bolivia believes that in times of confrontation, building trust between the sides is an issue that "requires great responsibility and will, not only from those who are in direct conflict, but also from those who foment it."
"Bolivia believes that problems of this kind must be solved in an environment where all sides involved are present," she went on to say.
According to the Bolivian government, discussing issues related to food security, nuclear safety and freedom of navigation "within a meeting of a group of countries is dangerous," the ambassador said.
"We see intentions to manipulate other countries on these sensitive issues," she continued.
"If a conference like this does not address the root causes of a lack of food security, for example, or discuss the role of unilateral and illegal sanctions outside the UN, it is clearly a manipulation," Maria Luisa Ramos Urzagaste said. "Attempts to blame one country for the multiple crises that the planet is experiencing, which were caused by a unipolar world that is now in decline, is a distortion of reality."
The president of Bolivia attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. During this visit, he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with the Rosatom State Corporation director general, received a mantle and diploma from St. Petersburg State University, and participated in the plenary session of SPIEF.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry earlier said Bern had invited more than 160 delegations to the Burgenstock conference scheduled for June-15-16, including delegations from G7, G20 and BRICS countries. According to Swiss officials, Russia wasn’t invited. President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will not insist on taking part if the country is not wanted at the conference.