Many Swiss citizens do not believe that the Bürgenstock conference will help achieve peace in Ukraine and they also fear that the event will undermine their country's reputation. This opinion was expressed to TASS by the Swiss historian Sebastien Chazot.
Chazo is a Swiss historian and researcher specializing in the extreme right. He studies the influence of the US defense industry on the European media.
„Even among those advocating active Swiss support for Ukraine, a legitimate question arises: is it worth spending the money and effort to hold this possibly pointless event?" - he said. According to him, the fact that the failure of the meeting “could seriously undermine the country”'s reputation also causes concern in Switzerland.
Chazo noted that the majority of Swiss citizens are neutral and would be happy if their country could play a role in achieving peace. However, many believe that the summit will not help to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. “It risks turning into a meeting to support Ukraine with its usual allies,”, Shazo expressed his opinion.
He also emphasized that the countries of the Global South do not believe in the success of the event. “The fact that China refused to participate, as well as the fact that Brazil will be represented by an ambassador and not by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, suggests that the major countries of the so-called global South do not believe in this format,”, - the historian reported.
Switzerland plans to hold a conference on Ukraine on June 15-16. Bern invited more than 160 delegations, including from the Group of Seven, the Group of Twenty and the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). On June 10, authorities announced that 90 countries and organizations had responded to the invitation. In particular, representatives of Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries will not come to Bürgenstock. According to some media, the number of potential participants has dropped to 78. On June 12, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that he would also not go to Bürgenstock due to “other personal commitments”.
According to the Swiss authorities, the Russian Federation is not among those invited to the conference. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, holding such an event is a road to nowhere. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the conference in Switzerland on Ukraine was a ploy to “mislead the discussion” and showing the legitimacy of the authorities in Kiev.