DISINFO: Ukraine ‘peace’ summit is another US-invented scam
SUMMARY
The Ukraine ‘peace’ summit is another scam invented by the US State Department. Russian officials have said hundreds, if not thousands of times, that Moscow is ready for talks on Ukraine, while Kyiv walked away from engagement in the spring of 2022 on the advice of the UK.
RESPONSE
This is a pre-emptive attempt to discredit the peace summit which Switzerland will host on 15-16 June 2024.
The US is not behind this initiative, which was launched upon Ukraine’s request with Switzerland agreeing to host. Switzerland has invited over 160 delegations from around the world to join for the first Summit on Peace in Ukraine, including members of the G7, G20, BRICS, many other countries from all continents, as well as the EU, three international organisations and religious representatives. According to the Swiss government, the summit aims to create a framework favourable to comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine, as well as "a concrete roadmap for Russia's participation in the peace process." If the summit does not provide fruitful results, it will be because of Russia's impossible preconditions for a peaceful settlement. Russia refuses to engage in any talks before the "unconditional surrender of the Kiev [sic] regime."
The claim that Ukraine rejected an agreement in 2022 under UK auspices has been debunked multiple times (see here, here and here) but continues to emerge in the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem as it serves to promote the false narrative that Moscow is open to peace negotiations while the West is only interested in continuing the war in Ukraine as a proxy conflict against Russia.
Despite Russia's preconditions for Ukraine's unconditional surrender and acceptance of the occupation, Russia still claims that it is ready for negotiations and that it is Ukraine that is rejecting them. However, Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have a track record of pretending negotiations which are, in fact, just blunt demands for Ukrainian unconditional surrender. We have analysed and exposed this disinformation tactic in several articles, especially: "Prepare for winter" (30 Nov. 2023), "Russian so-called ‘peace proposals’ are empty PR stunts" (18 Jan. 2023) , "What He Said and What it Really Means – Vol. 2: “Negotiations” (1. March 2022) and "The Kremlin security demands" (21 Dec. 2021).
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland is an Anglo-Saxon attempt to isolate Russia, that the West has no intention of ending the conflict in Ukraine, that Zelenskyy and the EU want a permanent war in Ukraine, or that Zelenskyy’s peace plan is a war formula.