China's position on Moscow's invitation to Global Peace Summit is weak, diplomat Chaly explains

He said this on Espreso TV.

Regarding the possible presence of the Russian Federation at the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, Chaly said: "In my opinion, today it would be a trap if Russia was invited and Russia was present there, a trap for Ukraine - this is obvious, because the Russian conditions, they have not changed them, are the surrender of Ukraine to Moscow."

Ukraine's former ambassador to the United States is convinced that negotiations with Russia are not necessary to end the war.

"I'll even tell you more, there is no need to have Russia at any negotiating table - this is in an ideal situation, that is, wars end not only at the table when something is formally signed, these are decisions that can be made within the framework of international law, if and when Russia is stopped, then international law automatically returns and then completely different conditions are created. Russia's position is clear — they don't even want to do this now, because they believe that they can further strengthen their position by seizing more territory of Ukraine, so Putin will not do this now," the diplomat stressed.

Chaly recalled China's statement about its participation in the summit, saying that if Moscow is not present, Beijing will not go: "So, does China's position depend on Moscow? I doubt it, so this is a weak position for China in this situation. But given that this summit in Geneva is important, it will not solve all the issues now. We can talk about the level of participation — a country can have this or that level of participation — from the highest level, as the United States and our partner countries are planning, maybe not Xi Jinping, but someone can participate — the foreign minister, maybe. In any case, China saying that its position depends on Moscow's invitation or not, I think it is a weak Beijing, I am surprised by this," the diplomat concluded.

• Switzerland will host the Global Peace Summit on 15-16 June at Ukraine's request. However, the full list of participants has not yet been made public.