Another signatory vanishes from Zelensky’s ‘peace conference’ declaration

Rwanda’s signature has disappeared from the joint document following the Swiss-hosted event

The Swiss organizers of the Ukraine ‘peace conference’ have taken Rwanda’s signature off the event’s final communique, a day after Jordan and Iraq asked for their signatures to be removed, according to the document published on the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department website.

States that participated in the conference were added to the final communique by default, and needed to opt out to not appear on the document, Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesperson Valentin Clivaz has explained.

“In such cases, each delegation participating in the event receives a communiqué in advance and then, if it objects to its signing, must inform the host country about this,” Clivaz told Russian news agency Sputnik on Monday. “Iraq and Jordan did not specifically state their opposition to this text and were therefore added. They asked to remove their names from the list of signatories after the publication of the final communiqué, which was done. It was just a coordination problem,” the spokesman explained.

Read more Signatures of two states ‘disappear’ from Zelensky’s ‘peace conference’ declaration

Despite being on the list when it was published on Sunday, Rwanda’s signature was also taken off sometime between 7am and 1pm on Monday, according to archived versions of the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s web page.

Only 77 states out of the 92 state delegations represented at the event now appear as signatories to its culminating communique, with Kosovo listed as an independent country. Serbia and a number of other states, including Russia and China, consider Kosovo as Serbian territory.

While some members of the BRICS economic bloc attended, none signed the final document. Russia was not invited to be part of the talks, and had indicated that it would not attend if asked, due to the unacceptable nature of Vladimir Zelensky’s “peace formula.”

Read more Zelensky responds to Putin’s peace offer

The communique laid out what it described as a “common vision,” shared by the signatories, with the talks and the document “based on Ukraine’s peace formula.” The listed states agreed on their commitment to peace, called for the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant to be given over to Ukrainian control, unrestricted access to Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports, and the release of all prisoners of war.

Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he’s willing to order a ceasefire and start peace talks as soon as Kiev fulfills several conditions. Crucially, Kiev must cede all five formerly Ukrainian regions which voted to join Russia, withdraw troops from these territories, formally swear off its NATO bid and guarantee it will not pursue its own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.