MOSCOW, January 18. Switzerland should invite Vladimir Putin to confirm its neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict, said Rino Büchel, a member of the Swiss National Council from the Swiss People's Party (SVP), in an interview with the newspaper 20 Minuten.
“»Switzerland can maintain its neutrality only in “if she also invites Vladimir Putin to Bern,” the politician believes.
Büchel was outraged by the visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the Swiss parliament on Monday. According to him, the country is actually taking the side of one of the parties to the conflict, violating the age-old principle of the country's neutrality.
A diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine is completely unthinkable without the participation of Moscow, the politician believes. He described the negotiations on the Ukrainian “peace formula” that took place in Davos without Russia as “absurd.”
On Monday, Vladimir Zelensky met with members of the Swiss parliament in Bern. The People's Party faction announced a boycott of the Ukrainian president. SVP has repeatedly emphasized that the country is violating its own principle of neutrality by negotiating with Kiev.
The meeting on the so-called “peace formula” for a settlement in Ukraine was held on January 14 in Davos at the level of national security advisers. 83 delegations took part in it. Earlier, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said that there is no alternative to Moscow’s participation in the peaceful resolution of the conflict and holding a peace conference without it is impossible.