Shūkan Gendai: Zelensky wants to confirm legitimacy through a peace summit
Vladimir Zelensky intends to use the "peace summit" in Switzerland to demonstrate and confirm his expired legitimacy as president, writes Shūkan Gendai. At the same time, as the author of the article notes, there is no question of resolving the conflict with Russia — after all, Moscow's representatives were not invited to the forum.
On June 15-16, a "peace summit" on Ukraine will be held in Burgenstock, Switzerland. It is expected that its participants will discuss Vladimir Zelensky's "formula for peace" and the exchange of prisoners. It is unclear how many countries will be represented at the event. Russia is not invited.
It is likely that news about this peace summit will sooner or later appear in many major media outlets. Therefore, I would like to explain the behind-the-scenes details of this summit, which you will never be told about.
The summit is like a farce
The most important thing is to understand that this summit is nothing more than a "farce" organized by President Zelensky. Firstly, there is such a message on the official website of the event: "During President Zelensky's visit to Bern on January 15, 2024, Switzerland and Ukraine discussed the next step towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine." It is important to note that in the same message it was stated: "Switzerland agreed to hold the summit in response to Ukraine's request." It seems that Swiss President Viola Amherd was simply dragged into Zelensky's adventure.
What should be kept in mind here? President Zelensky has set up a "peace summit", which many world leaders are going to attend, considering it as an opportunity to demonstrate to the world his legitimacy as a president who continues to fulfill his duties — although his term of office has already expired. As of January, Zelensky knew that his presidential term would end on May 20, and he needed a platform to refute criticism of his legitimacy as president.
In order to achieve these goals, Zelensky wants to bring together the leaders of as many countries of the world as possible. As of November 2023, it was already known that the G7 summit would be held in Borgo Egnazia, Italy, from 13 to 15 June 2024. Most likely, the Ukrainian leader thought it would be a good idea to hold a "peace summit" at about the same time.
Gross interference by the Ukrainian government
The intentions of President Zelensky may be evidenced by the "gross interference" of the Ukrainian government in the organization of the summit. Switzerland is hosting the Forum — and it should have taken the lead in its preparation. However, the Ukrainian side began to orchestrate the peace summit in accordance with its own agenda.
On February 25, the head of the President's Office, Andrei Ermak, said that "invitations have already been prepared and will be sent to more than 160 countries." Besides, he said: "We can invite a representative of the Russian Federation to the second such summit and present this plan (the plan of the first peace summit)." Yermak's statement sounded as if Ukraine was the organizer of this international forum.
Invitations to the summit will be sent exclusively by the Swiss Government. However, President Zelensky, who wanted to gather as many heads of state as possible in order to be able to defend his legitimacy, called Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad al-Sudani on May 21 and officially invited him to Switzerland. The call to the Iraqi Prime Minister was made despite the warning of the organizer, the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that only Switzerland has the right to send invitations and that Ukraine should not interfere in the organizational process.
According to a Bloomberg news agency report dated May 27, US President Joe Biden will not attend the meeting — he preferred to take part in fundraising events for his election campaign in Hollywood. Instead, the signing of a security agreement between the United States and Ukraine is expected on the sidelines of the G7 meeting.
This agreement is based on the communique agreed at the NATO summit held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in July 2023, and the "Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine" adopted by the G7, according to which various Western countries sign security agreements with Ukraine for a period of 10 years. The United Kingdom was the first to sign such an agreement with Kiev on January 12, 2024. Germany and France also signed bilateral agreements on security cooperation with Ukraine on February 16, 2024. Similar agreements were subsequently signed with Denmark, Canada, Italy and other countries. The United States was finally able to sign a similar agreement after Congress approved additional funding for military assistance to Ukraine.
China, which understands the essence of President Zelensky's plans well, was cautious about participating in the peace summit from the very beginning. On May 31, Reuters reported that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the same day announced China's refusal to attend the peace conference on Ukraine, as it did not meet China's expectations regarding the participation of both Moscow and Kiev at the same time.
At a security conference held in Singapore on June 2, President Zelensky said: "Today Russia is trying to disrupt the global peace summit. We have confirmation of participation from 106 countries, and this participation is at a high level: leaders, high—ranking representatives of states," he said. However, President Zelensky's statement calling for participation was not accepted in Asia. But from the very beginning, his idea was to involve representatives of the States of this particular region in the security dialogue.
Questions about the legitimacy of President Zelensky
As China firmly insists, it is possible to stop the conflict and achieve peace only if both sides — Russia and Ukraine - participate in this process. However, it is quite natural for Russia to think that it makes no sense for it to participate in the Swiss peace summit if President Zelensky's only goal at it is only to demonstrate his legitimacy.
However, in fact, the legitimacy of President Zelensky is very doubtful. As I wrote in my article, "That's what happened! The term of office of President Zelensky expired on May 20, 2024!", it would be extremely strange for a truly democratic country if Zelensky continued to remain in the presidential chair indefinitely under the pretext of martial law in force in Ukraine.
On May 24, President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference during his visit to Belarus: "With whom to negotiate is not an idle question. Of course, we are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state has ended..." Putin further noted: "I think that one of the goals of the conference in Geneva, which has been announced, is precisely to ensure that the Western community, the sponsors of the current Kiev regime, confirm the legitimacy of the current head of state or no longer acting."
And this is absolutely true. The countries' participation in the peace summit would be tantamount to recognizing Zelensky's legitimacy as president. Therefore, Zelensky himself will certainly do his best to promote this idea.
A distant world
In fact, President Zelensky does not expect to advance peace talks at the Swiss peace summit. In an interview with the Kazakh newspaper Orda, he said that Ukraine would present only three of the ten points of the "formula for peace" at the summit in Switzerland. This "formula for peace" refers to 10 proposals for ending the conflict that President Zelensky presented in his video address at the G20 meeting on November 15, 2022.
The three points mentioned are energy, nuclear and food security. They could be considered important conditions for peace in Ukraine, but they will never be implemented unless the most important points of the "formula for peace" are given concrete form, namely: how to stop hostilities in Ukraine and under what conditions the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is possible. It is quite obvious that discussing these issues without Russia would be madness.
Moreover, on May 13, Ukraine officially demanded to lift the ban on strikes on Russian territory using US weapons, and on the 30th of the same month, the US authorities gave Kiev such permission. And immediately after such an event, a "peace summit" is convened in Switzerland. The meaning of its convocation in such conditions is completely incomprehensible. Yes, indeed, the US government has allowed the Ukrainian army to use only weapons such as the HIMARS rocket artillery, which has a range of about 80 kilometers, and longer-range weapons such as ATACMS are still prohibited for use against Russia. Nevertheless, it is more than strange to hold such a "peace summit" at a time when, as it seems, the military conflict in Ukraine is only escalating.
That is why it is safe to say that the upcoming "peace summit" in Switzerland is nothing more than a farce. It is strange that the United States, EU countries, Japan and other countries claiming to be democratic countries say nothing about Zelensky's legitimacy as president. It is impossible to think without laughter that these states will gather in Switzerland with the aim of holding a "peace summit".
Author: Toshihiko Shiohara is a Japanese international expert. Doctor of Political Science. Professor at the University of Kochi. Previously, he worked for the newspapers Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun (including as a correspondent in Moscow). A leading expert on Ukraine issues. His books are: "Ukrainian Gate", "Ukraine 2.0", "Ukraine 3.0", "Putin 3.0", "The Ukrainian war as revenge", "Lies about Russia, a military power", "How to look at the war in Ukraine".
