Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky proposed at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima that there be a peace conference arranged for the Ukraine-Russia conflict – except that Russia not be invited. This actually makes sense, if the stipulation is that the “Ukrainian Peace Plan” is the agenda. That is, the starting point for negotiations has three conditions: Russia’s military withdraws from all the regions of 2014 Ukraine that then voted to rejoin Russia (after objecting to the violent coup that overthrew the elected Ukrainian government); Russia hands over Putin and other Russian leaders for international tribunals; and Russia pays reparations to Ukraine. Since the proposal was designed as a non-starter, a non-peace conference is an appropriate follow up.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday reported that France, Denmark and Sweden have offered to host the public relations event. The WSJ suggests that it won’t be a charade, because EU officials plan to water down Kiev’s proposal “to make it more acceptable” to those outside of Europe. However, such a way of proceeding, by humoring Kiev’s fantasies, in reality tells those who actually proposed dealing with both Kiev and Moscow – that is, the Vatican, Brazil, China, India, and the African Union – to stand aside.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, acknowledged that the peace process “is not possible without the whole world, including the leaders of the Global South” — just not including Russia. He proceeded to explain the outreach to the WSJ: “We require a unified plan of the responsible civilized world that really wants to live in peace.” Evidently Russia would have been invited if they had been responsible and civilized.
So far, Kiev’s ‘outreach’ has been bumpy, as Zelensky skipped his meeting with Brazil’s Lula and he told a skeptical Arab League that they were succumbing to “Russian influence.” Ukrinform reports that today Zelensky indicated, indirectly, that the organizing of the targeted audience has run into problems. Zelensky told the press: “As for the peace formula, we are now at the stage where we will organize such a summit…. Of course, we want as many countries as possible to take part in it. That is why the date has not yet been determined.”
