GENEVA, February 16. /TASS/. By moving the negotiations to Geneva, Russia is bringing Europeans back into the game, allowing them to rejoin the Ukrainian settlement process, Swiss politician, journalist, writer, and member of the Geneva parliament Guy Mettan said.
He recalled that Turkey and the Persian Gulf countries have been mediating the negotiations on Ukraine until now. "They will undoubtedly continue to play this role in the future, as we have seen with the exchange of prisoners and bodies," he said in an interview with TASS.
"But by moving [the negotiations] to the center of Europe, we are sending a signal to the Europeans. We are bringing them back into the game but also holding them accountable. It is not enough for them to maintain their belligerent position by supplying Ukraine with more weapons and means to wage war. Instead, they must work for the sake of peace, which is incomparably more difficult and requires greater effort," Mettan explained.
The first round of trilateral security consultations between Russia, the US and Ukraine took place on January 23-24 in Abu Dhabi. The Russian negotiating team was led by Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff. The second round was held in the UAE capital on February 4-5. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the next round of negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement will also take place in a trilateral Russian-American-Ukrainian format on February 17-18 in Geneva. According to him, the Russian delegation will be led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.