Government Cassis on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister on Ukraine
Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The conversation on Wednesday revolved around the war in Ukraine, which Moscow started in 2022. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern confirmed corresponding agency reports.
19.12.2024, 17:50
19.12.2024, 19:16
SDA
At the request of the news agency Keystone-SDA, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) confirmed reports from the agencies Reuters and AFP that a telephone conversation had taken place between Cassis and Lavrov on Wednesday. Regarding the content of the phone call, the FDFA only stated that it was about Switzerland's candidacy for the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2026.
AFP reported, based on a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, that both sides had exchanged views on the Ukraine conflict. Lavrov explained in detail "the Russian position on resolving the situation".
Putin against Ukraine's sovereignty
The actual Russian position, or that of President Vladimir Putin, is that Ukraine is not entitled to state sovereignty. Putin had already stated this in an essay published in summer 2021. The argument: Ukrainians are not an independent nation, they are one with Russians and Belarusians.
The Kremlin is most concerned about Ukraine's future membership of NATO. According to AFP, Lavrov also returned to this point in his talks with Cassis, who believes that such membership is one of the root causes of the current conflict. With regard to possible peace negotiations, Russia insists that at least all previously occupied Ukrainian territories should be retained and that Ukraine should remain neutral.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian president gave the order for a military invasion of Ukraine and since then has been bombarding the southern neighboring country day after day and night after night with missiles and glide bombs, mainly on energy infrastructure and other civilian targets. Meanwhile, Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague as a war criminal.
