Russia says not to participate in second Ukraine ‘peace summit’

On Friday, Zelensky urged the West to support Ukraine as much as possible in organizing the meeting, in order to put a definitive end to the conflict in 2024. The Ukrainian leader previously said that he wanted Russia to be “at the table”, given that most of the international community supports this idea. In late August, he also suggested that India, which has positioned itself as a neutral country, could host the summit.

Zakharova, however, rejected the idea of the event.

“This process itself has nothing to do with the [conflict] settlement,” she said, calling it “a fraud by the Anglo-Saxons and their Ukrainian puppets,” she told reporters on Saturday.

“The so-called second summit has the same goal – to push through the absolutely unviable ‘Zelensky formula’ as an uncompromising basis for the settlement of the conflict, to get the global majority to support it, and in its name to present Russia with an ultimatum to capitulate. We will not participate in such ‘summits’.”

The spokeswoman stressed that Russia does not reject the idea of a diplomatic solution and is ready to discuss “really serious proposals that take into account the situation on the ground” and the conditions for talks put forward by President Vladimir Putin in June.

The Russian leader stated that Moscow would immediately start negotiations once Kiev starts withdrawing troops from Russia’s Donbass, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions and commits to neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification.

Moscow has also stressed it would not talk with Kiev as long as it continues to occupy part of Kursk Region and target civilians there.

Zakharova, however, remarked that Kiev and the West “do not think about peace… They need war. This is confirmed by the bandit invasion of the Ukrainian army into Kursk Region and Zelensky’s requests to be allowed to strike deep into Russia with NATO long-range weapons. This is a continuation of terror against the population of our country. We will not talk to terrorists”.

The first “peace summit” was held in Switzerland in June, to which Russia was not invited. The event revolved around several points of Zelensky’s supposed peace formula, but did not touch on some of Kiev’s key demands of Russia, including the withdrawal of the latter’s troops from territory Ukraine claims as its own. Putin called the event a Western ploy to create the illusion of a global anti-Russian coalition and divert attention from the roots of the conflict.