Russian proposals not discussed at Swiss peace summit, Scholz says
Group of Seven (G7) leaders did not entertain Russian President Vladimir Putin's peace proposals for its war in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during the Ukraine peace summit, the Guardian reported on June 16.
Putin stipulated on June 14 that for peace negotiations to proceed, Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. He also demanded Ukraine recognize Russia's illegal annexation of these regions and renounce any ambitions to join NATO.
President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Putin's conditions on the same day, likening them to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939.
Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak denounced Putin's proposal as "highly offensive to international law" and indicative of the Russian leadership's inability to assess reality accurately.
Scholz explained that Russia's proposals were not discussed at the peace summit on June 15-16 because they were widely seen as unserious and intended to distract from the summit.
World leaders convened at a Swiss mountain resort overlooking Lake Lucerne to rally support for Ukraine’s peace proposals during the first day of a two-day international summit. Over 90 countries are participating in the event, where Zelenskyy proclaimed that "history would be made."
