There is no military solution to the conflict, says Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar
The next international summit to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict should include Russia, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said on Wednesday after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Andrey Sibiga.
According to Blanar, the conflict in Ukraine has no “military solution” and steps must be taken to end it through negotiations “as soon as possible.” He noted that kyiv supports the idea of inviting representatives of Russia to the upcoming conference.
“We have reached an agreement and the minister has confirmed that the upcoming peace negotiations must include the participation of the Russian Federation,” Blanar was quoted by Slovak daily Pravda as saying that Bratislava supports Ukraine’s EU candidacy, but noted that Slovakia opposes kyiv’s ambitions to join NATO.
“Ukraine’s accession to NATO would create more conflicts,” Blanar said, without giving further details. Russia has consistently stressed its opposition to Ukraine joining NATO. kyiv’s neutral status is one of the main demands Moscow has made for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Russia was not invited to a peace conference on Ukraine held in Switzerland in June. The meeting yielded no visible results, as many nations refused to sign a joint declaration and lamented Russia’s absence. Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the event as a “scheme,” addressed to “reversing cause and effect” of the conflict.
Ukraine and Russia last held talks in Turkey in spring 2022. The two sides managed to draft a peace treaty that was preliminarily approved. However, the document was never finalized and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky subsequently issued a decree banning peace talks with Putin.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok earlier this month, Putin accused the West of “ordering” kyiv will withdraw from the treaty due to “the desire of the elites” to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”
Former US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland later confirmed that kyiv had rejected the treaty on the orders of its Western backers.
However, kyiv’s rhetoric has been changing in recent weeks. In an interview with NBC earlier this month, Zelensky said that “understood” that without Russia at the table it would be “very difficult” to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict and said that representatives from Moscow will be invited to the next peace conference.
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Russia has often expressed its desire to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means, but noted that any talks should be based on realities on the ground and take into account the interests of all parties.
The next peace conference has not yet been scheduled, but reports indicate it could take place later this fall.
