Peace formula: Switzerland at meeting in Malta for national security advisers on Ukraine
Bern, 28.10.2023 - Switzerland underscored its continuing support for the peace process in Ukraine at the national security advisers' meeting in Malta. The conference, which was attended by Swiss ambassador Gabriel Lüchinger, included 70 states from all continents and the EU, and focused on the principles and implementation of the peace plan set out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Switzerland is continuing its efforts to help shape Ukraine's future. At the meeting in Malta of national security advisers from a number of different states, Ambassador Lüchinger, who heads the FDFA's International Security Division (ISD), stated that Switzerland is committed to a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the UN Charter and international law". Co-organised by Malta and Ukraine, the conference focused on President Zelenskyy's 10-point peace formula.
Launched at the end of 2022, the peace formula sets out a number of principles to ensure lasting peace in Ukraine including accountability for the crime of aggression, the protection of people's lives, and the restoration of security and Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Switzerland welcomes the initiative in principle, as it does any project that can provide a basis for negotiations on sustainable peace.
Discussions on the peace formula are not only held at national security adviser level but also through regular ambassadorial meetings in Kyiv. Individual elements of the plan have already been discussed in several working groups since summer 2023. Switzerland is part of the working group on nuclear safety and has also announced its willingness to take part in the working groups focusing on two other key points of the peace plan – food security and confirmation of the war's end. In the working group dealing with nuclear safety, Switzerland strives to complement the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as its own activities in this area. "Attacks on nuclear facilities that serve civilian purposes violate the principles of the UN Charter, international law as set out in the Geneva Conventions, and the statutes of the IAEA," emphasised Lüchinger, who heads the ISD representing Switzerland in the nuclear safety working group.
Switzerland's participation in Zelenskyy's peace formula process is in line with the other measures it has taken so far in order to support the people affected by the war in Ukraine and to help shape the country's future. This includes the broad-based political recovery process that was launched together with Ukraine in Lugano in July 2022. Switzerland is also committed to the prosecution of international crimes such as the crime of aggression and war crimes, and to the search for and identification of missing persons.
Within its international cooperation framework, Switzerland provides humanitarian aid and has adapted existing development cooperation projects to the new context. Since the outbreak of the war, Switzerland has allocated over CHF 350 million to help the Ukrainian population.
On 29 September 2023, the Federal Council also approved CHF 100 million for mine action in Ukraine, which will be split equally between the FDFA and DDPS. Inspecting affected areas and clearing mines and unexploded ordnance is crucial to the reconstruction and recovery process in Ukraine, particularly for the country’s agriculture.
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