With the beginning of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the world was faced with the search for a diplomatic formula and a platform for developing an acceptable and just form of peace. The UN Security Council was excluded from the process due to the ability of the aggressor country to use the right of veto without limitation and to conduct endless informational and psychological campaigns.
Various peace initiatives, from Russia’s demand to accept Ukraine’s surrender to vague proposals to stop and freeze the war, trying to find a balance of interests for the victim of aggression and the aggressor, did not comply with international law. Therefore, all “peacemakers”, formally recognizing Ukraine’s right to sovereignty and territorial integrity, at the same time called for consideration of Russia’s interests. It was about freezing the war along the existing line of battle.
In response to the powerlessness of the world community to end the war and bring the aggressor to justice, Ukraine announced its peace formula, based on international law, in the fall of 2022 during a speech by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky at the meeting of the UN General Assembly and during the G20 Summit. The Ukrainian peace formula provided for 10 points that were supposed to settle the issue of radiation and nuclear safety; food security; energy security; release of all prisoners and deportees, return of stolen Ukrainian children; implementation of the UN Charter and restoration of territorial integrity of Ukraine; withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities; return of justice; countering ecocide; preventing escalation and fixing the end of the war.
Realizing that Russia is cynically trying to present its unprovoked aggression as a defenсe against Western colonial encroachments, accusing the West of fomenting aggression and trying to play on the anti-colonial sentiments of the Global South, Ukraine made every effort to involve the maximum number of countries from all continents in discussing the formula, calling on each of the invited to participate in the discussion and development of those points that they share. Before announcing the global peace summit, which is scheduled for 15-16 June 2024, in Switzerland and which is supposed to unite most countries of the world, Ukraine held four large preparatory meetings. On 24 June 2023, at the level of national security advisers of dozens of countries in Copenhagen. 5-6 August 2023, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) between 42 representatives of Western countries, as well as Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, South Africa and China. The meeting on 28-29 October 2023, in Malta brought together 66 delegations.
Ultimately, the meeting in Kyiv on 1 December 2023, brought together 86 participants. It was planned that about a hundred foreign delegations were to participate in the final event. At the meeting and the final summit, representatives of Russia as an aggressor country will not be involved, taking into account its destructive behaviour in the Ukrainian issue on all international platforms.
According to the results of the Peace Summit, Russia may find itself practically alone in front of the consolidated position of the world, so the Kremlin started an aggressive campaign to disrupt the Peace Summit.
In the war against the consolidated peaceful intentions of the world, Russia is conducting several information and psychological wars at the same time and, unfortunately, it is achieving certain results.
First, Russia launched a narrative and is actively spreading it through its agents of influence about the ineffectiveness of the global peace initiative due to Moscow’s non-participation in it.
Having failed to receive an invitation to block and destabilize the course of the Summit, Moscow is trying to reduce the level of its representation and the number of delegations as much as possible, to finally testify that the Summit is just an aggressive platform of the West, which does not support the global South. Moscow has launched a major campaign that the Peace Summit is actually a way to legitimize Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, whose legitimacy, in Moscow’s opinion, has expired.
Most importantly, Russia managed to ensure that the agenda for the discussion will be abbreviated and will not raise the issues of the full return of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
What’s more, the peacekeepers in sheep’s clothing, who were rushing around with peace initiatives useful to the Kremlin, covering up their plans, every time vaguely talked about the need to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, have now openly abandoned such plans. On 24 May, the BRICS allies, China and Brazil, published a joint position on the “political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis”, which does not contain a single word about respect for the sovereignty and restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but only calls on the parties to “refrain from de-escalation”, holding negotiations with the participation of Russia “at the right time”, preventing the expansion of the humanitarian catastrophe and avoiding a nuclear crisis, and countering the division of the world into isolated political groups.
Unfortunately, Russia’s aggressive subversive policy led to the fact that most of the issues threatening it disappeared from the agenda of the summit. Its participants agreed to focus on three main issues: nuclear and energy security, free navigation, and prisoner exchanges (all-for-all exchanges and the return of deported children). At the same time, Ukraine has already by force of fact “unblocked” sea trade without the need to agree on anything with the aggressor, Russia remains the first nuclear terrorist country in world history, which continues to spread the scope of the war, brutally violating international law.
One of the biggest blows could be the refusal to participate in the first-person summit of key global players. China has already officially announced its refusal to participate in the summit, and the participation of US President Joe Biden remains an intrigue.
Therefore, at this stage, Russia has successfully won the war against any peace initiatives based on international law and justice. At the same time, such subversive work by Russia can lead to a disservice. Having made sure that Russia is not ready to restore peace based on international rules, Russia will have to be forced to peace in the only way – by military defeat.
The formula for peace can be realized only in its reformatting into the formula for the victory of Ukraine. Historical experience shows that only Russia’s military defeats led it to reforms. Therefore, Russia’s aggressive opposition to the peace summit may signal the end of any attempts to appease the aggressor. Ukraine must finally receive the unconditional right to freely use Western weapons against any legitimate targets, wherever they may be. China should feel the full force of sanctions in case of attempts to help Russian aggression. And the government of Brazil, where more than a million ethnic Ukrainians live, must feel the wrath of the nation for its unconditional support of Russian imperialism. In the end, the conclusion of the peace summit should be an understanding of the modernization of the formula “If you want peace, win the war”…
