GENEVA, January 8. /TASS/. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter announced her country’s readiness to act as a mediator in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
"During today’s phone call with President Zelensky, I assured him of Switzerland’s ongoing support for - notably through our many long-term humanitarian and reconstruction projects, plus our willingness to contribute to the peace process via Switzerland’s good offices," a statement on Keller-Sutter’s page on the X social network says.
At the end of December, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said that his country sees itself as part of the solution to the Ukrainian crisis, and that the confederation’s neutrality and efforts to establish peace in Ukraine constitute its "added value."
Earlier, the Swiss Foreign Ministry told TASS that the country's authorities were participating in the preparation of negotiations on establishing a ceasefire in Ukraine, but there was no talk of organizing a new so-called peace conference.
The first conference on Ukraine was held on June 15-16,2024, in the Swiss city of Burgenstock at the initiative of the Ukrainian side. Russia was not invited to take part in the event. Delegations of some states, including China, did not participate in the forum. The final communique of the conference was not signed by Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, the Vatican, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and South Africa.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that the conference was a complete fiasco, saying that "such gatherings cannot serve as a basis for sustainable peace.".