Italy favors international peace conference on Ukraine involving Russia, says foreign minister

Rome: Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Thursday that Italy is in favor of an international peace conference involving Russia on the future of Ukraine.

“We are in favor of an international peace conference which will also involve China and India, obviously Brazil and clearly Russia modeled on the conference organized by Switzerland in which Russia didn’t participate,” Tajani said on the sidelines of a European People’s Party meeting in Brussels. “We are working with Switzerland to make progress in this direction.”

The comments follow remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin who indicated he was ready to compromise on Ukraine in possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and Russian forces were moving closer to achieving their main goals.

Tajani said it was fair that a cease-fire be reached as soon as possible. He said, however, that the end of the conflict should guarantee the “integrity and independence of Ukraine.”

Asked if Italy would send peace-keeping troops to the former Soviet republic, he said it was “premature,” but indicated that in the meantime Italy has been supporting Ukraine on all matters, including the reconstruction of the country’s electrical grid.

“There’s a commitment, an agreement we signed almost a year ago, with funding which will reach Ukraine and are reaching Ukraine, precisely for the reconstruction of the electrical grid,” he said.