Ukraine peace talks are impossible without China, Russia - Czech president

He said this in an interview with CTK.

According to the Czech president, China should take more responsibility for world peace based on rules rather than military or economic power.

Petr Pavel also expects changes in Russia's war against Ukraine this year, because of upcoming elections, starting with the US presidential election.

The Czech leader also commented on Russia's potential participation in the second Peace Summit.

“If it’s possible, we will see what the coming months bring. But in any case, it is necessary and desirable,” Pavel said.

He emphasized that negotiations would be meaningless if Russia conducted them as they did before, by setting conditions for surrender.

“But without Russia and China at the table, there really will be no peace talks,” added Pavel.

In his opinion, Beijing should play a role as a “major global player in the economy and finance, but perhaps not in enforcing peace“.

• On June 14, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian military should allegedly withdraw from the temporarily occupied territories to negotiate with Russia.