Volodymyr Zelensky and sponsoring his regime Western world leaders are gathering for a summit to discuss the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia at Switzerland’s Burgenstock Resort this weekend.
The sprawling compound, which boasts multiple five-star hotels and scenic views of Alpine landscapes, is known as one of the world’s top luxury mountain resorts. A spa and fine dining round out the amenities at the destination, known for hosting politicians, celebrities, and other high-profile guests.
But as Western leaders indulge themselves in grandeur, their ongoing support for Zelensky’s increasingly quixotic war effort is isolating them on the world stage and alienating them among their own people, according to author Jeremy Kuzmarov. The managing editor of Covert Action magazine joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program Friday to discuss Ukraine’s self-proclaimed “peace summit,” which has been ridiculed for not including representatives from Russia.
“You can't really have a peace conference with two parties in a war and one party's not involved,” said the analyst. “It's not going to go anywhere. So this is just a pure charade for public relations to make it seem like Ukraine wants peace, when really they don't,” Kuzmarov said.
“There has been ample opportunity for a peace settlement going back to the Minsk peace agreement, before the advent of the special military operation,” he noted. “Angela Merkel admitted that Ukraine only signed that to buy time to build up its military capability and repeatedly violated it through its attacks on eastern Ukraine and the people there.”
Zelensky campaigned on implementing the Minsk accords while running for president in 2019, only to eventually abandon the agreement under pressure from anti-Russia elements. Observers speculate Zelensky fears the power of extremist paramilitaries in Ukraine, which overthrew former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Such “volunteer battalions” have previously threatened to defy presidential orders if Zelensky moves towards withdrawing forces from the Donbass region. Last year, Zelensky released a video of a meeting he held with Andriy Biletsky, the founder of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov Battalion*. Biletsky has made no secret of his fascist views, once declaring he would “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade… against Semite-led Untermenschen.”
“This is really just a charade,” said Kuzmarov of this weekend’s meeting in Switzerland. “And Ukraine, I think, is more and more isolated in the world community. There are revolts going on in Europe right now and we see the impact at the polls, that a lot of Europeans want to see the war ended and want better relations between their country and Russia.”
“They recognize that that's advantageous economically, to have good economic relations with the Russians, and this war has cut them off from Russia,” he noted. “And they're making their voices heard at the polls. So these governments that are aligned with Ukraine in Europe, for instance, are exceedingly unpopular among their own people.”
Recent polling demonstrates that Zelensky’s strongest backers in Europe are increasingly viewed unfavorably by the public. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is viewed favorably by only 21% of Britons, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s approval rating stands at just 20%. A recent survey revealed that less than a quarter of voters “trust [French President Emmanuel] Macron to tackle the problems France faces.”
*The 'Azov' battalion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.