Explaining complex things in simple words: Prospects for Russia's participation in peace summit, temporariness of Kerch Bridge, Russia's accountability for MH17 disaster

PROSPECTS OF RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION IN THE PEACE SUMMIT

Switzerland does not rule out inviting the dictator Putin to the next Peace Summit and his immunity from the warrant of the International Criminal Court.

• The Russian Federation’s participation in the Peace Summit is meaningless because Moscow does not demonstrate a sincere desire to end the war.
• If the leadership of the Russian Federation really wanted it, it could end the war at any moment. To do this, it is only necessary to withdraw the occupying forces from Ukraine and start observing the UN Charter.
• When all participants in the Peace Summit prepare and agree on a joint peace plan, it will be handed over to Russian representatives as a condition for their participation in the next Peace Summit.
• The International Criminal Court arrest warrant cannot be applied selectively; exceptions for suspects in serious crimes are inadmissible.
• Putin is an usurper of power, not the legitimate President of the Russian Federation. We expect to deal with truly legitimate and responsible Russian representatives.

  

TEMPORARINESS OF THE KERCH BRIDGE

Russian propaganda assures that the Kerch Bridge is no longer of strategic importance for Ukraine.

• The Kerch Bridge is an illegal structure that creates an ecological burden on the environment and hinders free navigation.
• Ukraine did not change its position regarding the need to dismantle this structure.
• The Kerch Bridge is a military facility and retains its significance for the logistics of Russian aggression against Ukraine, despite Russia's use of additional routes as well.
• This enemy military facility remains a strategic target for the Defence Forces of Ukraine and will be destroyed.
• We call on the civilian population to avoid being near this structure and, above all, on its structures.

  

RUSSIAN FEDERATION RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MH17 FLIGHT DISASTER

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation announced the termination of participation in the consideration of the complaint of Australia and the Netherlands in the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in connection with the disaster of the Malaysian Airlines airliner on July 17, 2014.

• In March 2022, Australia and the Netherlands submitted a joint application to the ICAO with a demand to oblige Russia to pay compensation to the relatives of the victims.
• Involvement in the disaster of flight MH17 of Russian citizens and the Buk missile system of the Russian Armed Forces has been proven by the District Court of the Netherlands.
• The Russian Federation's control over the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, from where the Buk missile was launched in 2014, is a fact proven by the ECtHR. After 2022, Russia itself indirectly recognized its aggression in Donbas at that time.
• From the beginning, the Russian side tried to deny its responsibility for the airliner disaster, inventing absurd and contradictory versions, hindering the conduct of an objective investigation.
• Moscow seeks to avoid responsibility for a war crime at all costs, so it simply breaks cooperation with those international institutions that accuse it.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security