Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Monday the country would like to host a summit in July to discuss how to find peace between Ukraine and Russia, but such a summit would need participation from India, China and Brazil.
“First, we need to make some efforts to reach a global commitment to organizing such a summit,” the minister told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
He also indicated that a peace summit should not only be attended by Ukraine’s allied countries.
“It is necessary to build interest and participation from countries like India, Brazil and China,” he said, but added that it was “difficult for me” Russia’s participation in such a summit.
To that, he continued, saying, “If Ukraine concludes that the time has come for such a meeting, that would be great. Then, of course, Denmark would like to host this meeting.”
Chinese peace plan
In February, Beijing proposed a 12-point peace plan. China’s plan urges both sides to agree on a gradual de-escalation, and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.
But Kiev insists on a full withdrawal of Russian forces, and has promoted its own plan in recent months.
It is noteworthy that Ukraine always stresses that it will not engage in any peace talks unless Russia withdraws from its entire territory.
(Expressive – iStock)
The Kremlin wants Kiev to recognize Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, and also to recognize the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia.
Ukraine rejects these demands, and insists that it will not hold talks with Russia until the latter withdraws its forces from all occupied territories.
