Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told broadcaster SRF in an interview that allowing Putin to attend without facing arrest was โcompletely achievableโ and could be settled within a few days.
Switzerland has proposed granting Russian President Vladimir Putin immunity from arrest if he agrees to attend peace talks on the war in Ukraine. Putin currently has an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him over the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the invasion began, Bloomberg has reported.
The development comes after Putin expressed willingness to discuss a truce with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in a proposed US-Russia-Ukraine trilateral summit.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said in an interview with broadcaster SRF that ensuring Putin could attend without being arrested was “100% achievable”ย and could be determined within days.
However, Cassis clarified that such immunity would apply only if Putin visited Switzerland for peace talks, not on a private trip.
Last year, Switzerland hosted a two-day Ukraine peace conference where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy failed to secure support from several Global South nations. Russia was not invited, with Swiss officials stating Moscow had repeatedly signalled no interest in participating.
Trump pushes for Putin-Zelenskyy peace talks
Former US President Donald Trump announced that he has begun arranging a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy to discuss ending the war. The announcement came shortly after Trump held a phone call with Putin while hosting Zelenskyy and top European leaders in Washington.
Trump said in a social media post that following his talks, he had initiated arrangements for a meeting at a yet-to-be-decided location. He added that once the bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy took place, he planned to hold a trilateral meeting involving himself as well. Trump described this as an โearly stepโ in efforts to end the nearly four-year-long conflict.
It remains unclear whether Putin has agreed to attend such talks. Russian state news agency Tass quoted Putinโs foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, saying both leaders had expressed support for continuing direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, and even discussed the possibility of raising them to a higher level.
What Zelenskyy said on peace talks
Speaking after the White House meeting, Zelenskyy stressed that Russia must first demonstrate a genuine willingness to meet. “If Russia does not demonstrate a will to meet, then we will ask the United States to act accordingly,”ย he told reporters.
Zelenskyy previously had said he wanted Russia to agree to a ceasefire before any meeting between himself and Putin, but he said Monday that if the Ukrainians started setting conditions, the Russians would do the same.
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