‘Friends of Peace’ issue Russia-Ukraine statement

A group of countries from the Global South has called for a “lasting settlement” to the conflict

China, Brazil, and more than a dozen other members of the ‘Friends of Peace’ group have called for an immediate end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, with Beijing’s top diplomat declaring that peace “is the only realistic option” for the two nations.

Convened by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Brazilian presidential adviser Celso Amorim, the Friends of Peace initiative held its first ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday. Described by Wang as a forum for “objective and rational” dialogue on the conflict, the meeting was attended by 18 countries, mostly from the Global South. Hungary and Türkiye were the only NATO members to send diplomats to the conference.

In a joint communique signed by China, Brazil, and 11 other attendees, the group called for a “comprehensive and lasting settlement by the parties to the conflict through inclusive diplomacy and political means based on the UN Charter.”

This settlement should be achieved by following a six-point plan published by China and Brazil earlier this year, the communique recommended. The plan calls for both sides to refrain from escalation or provocation, increase humanitarian assistance and prisoner of war exchanges, refrain from nuclear threats and attacks on energy infrastructure, and attend an international peace conference in which all peace proposals will receive a “fair discussion.”

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“Russia and Ukraine are neighbors that cannot be moved away from each other and amity is the only realistic option,” Wang said during Friday’s meeting.

”All members of the ‘Friends of Peace’ are peace-loving countries. We are not the creator of the Ukraine crisis, or a party to it,” he said. “We have no self-interest or geopolitical considerations on the Ukrainian issue. We gather here to voice our support for peace and to be partners for peace between Russia and Ukraine.”

Wang’s statement fell on deaf ears in the West. Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned China for declaring that it wants peace, while allegedly allowing its companies to sell components for military hardware to Russia. “That doesn’t add up.” he said.

”The United States should stop smearing and framing China,” Wang responded, adding that Beijing “has always insisted on promoting peace and dialogue, and has made its own efforts to promote a political solution.”

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In a speech to the assembly on Wednesday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed that “alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles” would only benefit Russia, and that only his own ten-point ‘peace plan’ can resolve the conflict.

Zelensky’s plan – which calls on Russia to hand control of Crimea to Ukraine, pay reparations, and turn over its own officials to war crimes tribunals – has been dismissed by the Kremlin as “detached from reality.”

Moscow is willing to discuss “really serious proposals that take into account the situation on the ground,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week. Any plan, she added, must involve Kiev withdrawing troops from Russia’s Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions and committing to military neutrality.