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Together with Defense Minister Viola Amherd, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis represents Switzerland at the Munich Security Conference. At the moment he sees no room for relaxation and peace talks in the Ukraine war, he tells SRF.
At the moment there is not much hope that the Russian war against Ukraine will calm down, said Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis after his bilateral meeting in Munich: “Unfortunately, there is currently no solution in sight, at least not in the short or medium term.”
His encounters also showed: “I didn’t have to defend or promote neutrality, but I did talk about it.” The positioning of neutral Switzerland is no longer as natural as it used to be.
Switzerland not neutral enough for Russia
According to Cassis, Switzerland cannot currently play its traditional role as mediator, “because from the Russian point of view, after the EU sanctions were adopted, it is located in the western camp and is therefore not perceived as sufficiently neutral.”
We are facing a military escalation. You can feel that here.
In view of the current developments on the war front with the beginning of the new Russian offensive, however, the hour for steps towards de-escalation does not seem to have come anyway. Discussions about this are not high on the agenda at the Munich Security Conference. The Swiss Foreign Minister’s assessment is also pessimistic: “At the moment, I have the feeling that there is no room for negotiations. We are facing a military escalation. You can really feel that here.”
According to Cassis, only the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sent out at least a small positive signal when he said that we would see each other again in Munich next year, after the war. It was not clear whether this arose from pure hope or a sober assessment of the situation.