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Military operation in Ukraine

Slovak leader sees no point in holding another conference on Ukraine without Russia

"Peace should be ushered in through talks, as it seems that it will not be achieved militarily," Peter Pellegrini added

BRATISLAVA, July 9. /TASS/. Any future summits on Ukraine that exclude Russia, like the one held at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland last month, are completely pointless, says Slovak President Peter Pellegrini.

"If we want to talk peace or a ceasefire and hold subsequent negotiations on resolving [the Ukraine conflict], any discussions that do not include both warring parties will be useless. Peace should be ushered in through talks, as it seems that it will not be achieved militarily," Slovak news portal SME quoted the Slovak leader as saying upon arrival in the US capital as he said that any conference not involving Russia would be "doomed" to failure.

On June 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergey Aleinik, that Russia had not received any requests to convene another conference on Ukraine.

The Kiev-initiated forum on Ukraine was held in Burgenstock, Switzerland on June 15-16 Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, the Holy See, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Mexico, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates did not sign the summit communique. Russia was not invited. Most UN delegates did not attend either.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the conference as a total failure as she argued that "get-togethers" like this do nothing to bring a lasting peace.

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