Lavrov: Chinese peace plan on Ukraine corresponds to Russian common philosophy

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking to journalists after the CIS Foreign Ministers Council meeting in Minsk, explained the difference between the Chinese peace plan for resolving the situation in Ukraine and Switzerland's proposal to hold a conference on the same topic, sb.by reports

The Foreign Minister noted that the organisers of the peace conference in Switzerland are not going to invite the Russian Federation, “They frankly stated that first they need to issue a collective ultimatum to Russia. This simply ruins any chances of success for this Swiss venture.”

Sergei Lavrov emphasised that the Chinese 12-point plan and the Swiss formula are incompatible, “I don't see how you can harness a hedgehog and a timid deer to one cart. It is hard to imagine.”

The Swiss formula, according to the Foreign Minister, is to pull as many countries as possible by hook or by crook to an ultimatum against Russia. 

“And the Chinese idea is to first deal with the systemic security problems in our common space, the root causes of the current situation in Ukraine, which reflects the hybrid war that has been preparing for a long time and eventually unleashed by the West against us with the hands and bodies of Ukrainians and Ukraine. According to the Chinese approach, only by eliminating these reasons can we seriously consider an agreement that will take into account, and I emphasise once again, the legitimate security interests of all parties. This is roughly what we proposed in December 2021 – to agree on the indivisibility of security and practical steps to ensure indivisible security, namely the non-expansion of NATO and other security guarantees. These Russian initiatives have been known since 2007, when Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Munich Security Conference and warned the West against the temptation to conquer more and more geopolitical space with an openly anti-Russian approach. We repeated this in 2008, and again in 2010. We agreed within the framework of the OSCE on the indivisibility of security,” the Foreign Minister added.

Sergei Lavrov recalled that the West had assumed obligations that no country in the OSCE area would claim dominance, “But in fact, they were engaged in exactly this very domination.” 

The Foreign Minister also stressed, “The Chinese approach is consistent with our common philosophy, including in the context of the intensified discussion on how to ensure Eurasian security throughout our continent, where the situation is turbulent and conflicts are flaring up.”