Swiss forum highlights priority of `national egoism` - Sergey  Markedonov. 

ArmInfo. The Swiss forum once again highlighted the priority for any country of "national egoism,"  said a leading researcher at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO of the Russian Foreign Ministry, political scientist Sergey Markedonov.

Having stated the fact of holding this long-awaited international  conference on overcoming the Ukrainian military-political crisis,  Markedonov called for an assessment of this event without mischief.

According to him, one should also not talk about the forum at the  Burgenstock Hotel (Swiss canton of Nidwalden) as an "unimportant" and  "frivolous" event.

"Many arguments can be made about the "double standards" of the West  and the unwillingness of the Global South to follow the dictates of  Washington and Brussels. But the fact remains. The conference in  Switzerland became an important symbolic and legitimizing factor for  the support of Ukraine from the collective West.

Moreover, this "collective" itself has not lost its political  cohesion. The final communique was also signed by such "rebel  Eurosceptics" as Hungarians and Slovaks. And even the Serbs joined  them, no matter what correct words about friendship and brotherhood  were uttered from Belgrade. Turkey has once again put "Euro-Atlantic  solidarity" above the usual foreign policy frontism," the Russian  expert noted.

At the same time, the political scientist is confident that in the  future the decisions of the "peace forum" will be referred to by the  governments of the United States and EU countries, they will be  appealed to in order to increase cooperation with Kiev and to  "contain" Moscow.

"The American and European political elites are not concerned with  how to let Russia save face or listen to the arguments "from the  other side." The goal is the same - to increase pressure on Moscow.  There are no illusions here! And while the Global South is indignant  and perplexed, the "collective West" , not forgetting about the oil,  sends guns to Kyiv and not only!" Markedonov noted.

The Russian expert called for special attention to be paid to the  genre and format features of the Swiss forum. "If we record them more  clearly, we will understand that the meeting in Burgenstock has  nothing to do with any real negotiation process. I agree 100% with  the opinion of academician Alexei Arbatov. "The worst thing in  politics is the mixing of genres. Public events are one thing, but  practical diplomacy is a very delicate and often confidential  activity. I would venture to say that no peace negotiations in  history would have achieved results if they had been conducted  publicly at large meetings." On June 15-16, 2024, we did not see  practical diplomacy; the gathered forum participants in Switzerland  were engaged in manifesting and declaring a certain set of demands,"  - I'm sure the political scientist.

Markedonov also called the peace conference, in which one of the  conflicting parties is missing, at least strange. He added that  negotiations are always communication with an uncomfortable  interlocutor, and not an activity in the format of "the cuckoo  praises the rooster because he praises the cuckoo"

The expert touched a little on the topic of representativeness and  asked the question: were there many or few participants at the forum?

"92 conference participants from 193 UN member countries. What does  this mean? It probably didn't work out to make the Ukrainian issue  the number one global topic. But it was quite possible to designate  its high priority. The goal of consolidating the "collective West"  was achieved, dissatisfaction with this opinion is shown," continued  the expert.

According to Markedonov, the key problem remains that the Global  South does not have the high degree of consolidation and political  mobilization that the United States and China have here and now,  whether we like it or not.

Next, the expert touched upon the question of who signed the final  communique and who did not. "Who (didn't) leave their autographs  under the final communique? The Swiss forum once again highlighted  the priority for any country of "national egoism." Whatever the Serbs  and Turks say about the importance of relations with Russia, their  signatures stand together with the autographs of the Czechs, Poles  and At the same time, such strategic partners of the States as the  Saudis, the UAE, Bahrain, Thailand, Mexico or Brazil refrained from  signing a document that has a clear anti-Russian orientation. And the  Holy See cannot be considered Moscow's strategic partners. However,  its "visa" is not. "Georgia comes from the West, but signed up;  Armenia strives to go to the West, but refrained from putting its  signature," Markedonov concluded.