The American-initiated next "round" of negotiations on the Ukrainian "peace plan", this time in Davos, has turned out empty talk again. The idea by Kiev’s American curators to arrange a "global summit on Ukraine" has become an obsession, though fruitless every single time. The latest attempt has embraced attempts of American strategists to make use of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Americans aim to engage county leaders in a general debate about "establishing peace in Ukraine," though this year they only managed to gather national security advisers — 83 of them. And the discussion itself took place within Zelensky's notorious "peace plan", which, among other things, demands that Russian armed forces withdraw beyond the borders of 1991.
As it turned out, most meeting attendants, who represented not the Western world, but the Global South, do not agree with the way the question is put. Head of Ukraine’s presidential administration who led its delegation at the forum, Andriy Yermak, insisted that his country’s defeat implies its total disappearance, and victory would make it live on. He was objected to by arguing that an end to the war should result from a dialogue with Moscow.
The most embarrassing thing was that the debate’s co-chairman, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, said “neither Ukraine nor Russia, which was not invited to the discussion, is prepared to make territorial concessions,” Bloomberg reports. In other words, those present have just had a nice time.
And Global South representatives have reiterated that meetings of the kind have been — and will stay — fruitless without Russia or due regard to its stance. Yermak has himself admitted lack of unity among the Davos meeting participants as per the Kiev-promoted "peace formula", and the Ukrainian delegation has to outline its position. In short, thigs have become sad and dismal to Kiev.
Britain’s Financial Times has come up with an all but mocking comment, calling "a bigger, more diverse family photo than last time” as the main achievement of Davos talks. The newspaper drew attention to the attendants’ failure to accept any joint statement or even take part in the press conference organized by the Ukrainian delegation. "Ukraine peace plan talks in Davos end with no clear path forward" and "a leader-level meeting that Ukraine is keen to hold hasn’t been scheduled," writes Bloomberg.
Notably, Kiev and its American curators have started assigning serial numbers to these traditionally embarrassing "peace meetings" on Ukraine, which they have sought to brand as "summits". The last of the kind took place secretly on December 16 in Saudi Arabia, involving the United States and its allies. Before that, there was a "summit" in the Saudi city of Jeddah to become a meeting of middle-level diplomats, and also there was a semi-secret expert session in Copenhagen. Now, loathing to excuse for another failure, the Americans and their Ukrainian wards have presented these meetings as some kind of time-consuming preparation for sort of a mythical "world summit on Ukraine" to allegedly bring together countries from across the globe, and force Moscow to back down. They even started assigning sequential numbers to these meetings, with the one in Davos named fourth.
In fact, this entire "peace summit" idea belongs to US President’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who has been persistently trying to make it come true since last spring. His clear goal is to ensure bonuses to President Biden ahead of the upcoming election by way of a diplomatic alternative to the war in Ukraine, while averting any demonization of the US itself. And the best-case scenario is presenting Moscow as the one to have asked for peace.
Refusal of the House Republican majority to keep funding Kiev should be considered in the same context. There is a persistent sensation that the Democrats have entered into some kind of collusion with the Republicans over terminating aid to Ukraine. Both seem to be putting on an act, where the Democratic party sides with Ukraine, and the Republicans oppose it. And in case of Kiev’s collapse the Democrats would say: we wanted to help Ukraine, but the Republicans did not let us do so. But, most importantly, the Ukraine issue would be settled for America once and for all: destruction solves all problems.
Interestingly, the Swiss, apprehending futility of further debate, have decided to put an end to them. Swiss Foreign Minister Cassis said the meeting was likely the last of the format, with further steps — for which read the global Ukraine summit — remaining up in the air. As Bloomberg puts it, "some nations believe the leader-level gathering hoped for by Ukraine would be premature, while others want to immediately involve Russia in the process."
Despite this, January 15 saw Zelensky head for Bern to persuade Swiss Confederation President Viola Amherd to arrange a high-level peace conference on the Kiev-promoted "peace formula". Switzerland has let itself be tempted— Bern is ready to hold it, and the parties have started working on further steps, Viola Amherd told the final joint press conference with Zelensky. A clear thing, because everyone knows that Bern will never waive Washington’s choice of the host for its fancied "global summit".
Or maybe the Swiss do realize that there will be no summit whatsoever. Amid the multiplying global crises, Zelensky keeps portraying his "peace formula" (first outlined in late 2022) as the foundation of any talks with Russia. At the same time, it is evident to anyone that it hardly works on its own — and it cannot, if we assume it as part of the agenda at a meeting featuring Russia.
