Mexico rejects Ukraine peace talks without Russia
Discussing peace in Ukraine makes sense only with the participation of both Kiev and Moscow, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said on Monday, adding that because this is not the case with the upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia, his country will not participate.
“If both Ukraine and Russia agree to seek options to achieve peace in this conflict, we will participate, if the parties in conflict agree and convene for that purpose,” the president, known as AMLO after his initials, said at a press conference.
“We do not want the war between Russia and Ukraine to continue,” he added. “It is very irrational, people suffer a lot, people are dying, and the only benefits go to the war industry, the makers of weapons.”
High-ranking officials from around 30 countries will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on August 5-6, to discuss peace in Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. Russia was not invited, however.
The Journal described the Jeddah event as a follow-up to a similar meeting held in June in Copenhagen, where Kiev and its Western backers attempted to persuade countries that had so far chosen to remain neutral to support Ukraine. Discussions are expected to be based on the ten-point “peace formula” proposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which in practice amounts to Russia’s unconditional surrender.
Russia laughed off Zelensky’s “formula” as unrealistic and delusional. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow intends to negotiate with the US, which he described as pulling Zelensky’s strings.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, however, that any attempts to contribute to a peaceful settlement “are worthy of a positive assessment,” and that it “remains to be seen” what happens in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Monday that talks in Saudi Arabia “will not be useless” if they “help the West understand that Zelensky’s plan has no prospects.”
