Anyone not participating in the Swiss ‘peace summit’ next month is a lackey of Russian President Vladimir Putin, prominent Ukrainian politician Anton Gerashchenko claimed on Thursday. His post was quickly deleted, however.
Vladimir Zelensky has claimed that more than 90 states will attend the event, scheduled for mid-June at the Swiss resort of Lucerne. The US leadership will not be among them, even though Washington is Kiev’s most prominent backer.
“There are states that have clearly outlined their position in defense of democracy. These countries are participating in the June conference in Switzerland. And there are undecided states that can be considered as accomplices of the war,” Gerashchenko wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Although I would just call them all [Putin’s] kholui’s,” the politician added, using a Russian word that means “lackeys.”
The post was deleted shortly thereafter. Some X users have speculated that Gerashchenko might have removed it because it risked offending the US. The White House has said that President Joe Biden will be at a fundraiser in California instead and that Vice President Kamala Harris will not be going to Switzerland either.
Zelensky lamented Biden’s absence on Tuesday, arguing the choice not to attend would be cause for a “standing ovation” from Putin and would send the wrong message to other countries.
Russia was not invited to the meeting. Moscow has described the summit as a “scam” intended to whip up support for Zelensky’s “peace formula” among non-Western nations, and under false pretenses.
Kiev’s roadmap to resolving the crisis, which Zelensky has been promoting since 2022, calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from all territories Ukraine considers its own, for Moscow to pay reparations and to subject itself to a war-crimes tribunal. The Kremlin has rejected it as “unrealistic” and a sign of Kiev’s unwillingness to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
“From our point of view, this conference is completely without prospects … because getting together and seriously discussing the Ukraine conflict without our participation is absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RT on Wednesday.
Gerashchenko served as Ukraine’s deputy minister of internal affairs and later advised Interior Minister Denis Monastirsky (2021-2023). He has been a prominent pusher of Ukrainian narratives on social media since.