Switzerland urges citizens to leave Donbass and calls on the sides to de-escalate
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is calling on Swiss nationals to leave the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in south-eastern Ukraine (Donbass) given the escalation on the contact line.
“The FDFA recommends that Swiss people in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions temporarily leave these regions on their own. Some airlines have reduced or suspended their flights to Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said in a travel update on Saturday.
According to the FDFA, Switzerland is ready to support the dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict. The self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) have reported continued shelling of Donbass settlements by Kiev forces in recent days. LPR and DPR on Friday announced the evacuation of their citizens to Russia’s Rostov region.
“Switzerland is concerned about the escalation of armed hostilities observed by the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] Special Monitoring Mission in Eastern Ukraine. We call on all sides to recommit to the ceasefire and to actively contribute to de-escalation,” the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Twitter, adding that Switzerland is ready to support a “constructive dialogue”.
Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik on Friday that Switzerland is ready to host a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Earlier this week, Blinken suggested to Lavrov that another meeting be held next week.
Western countries and Kiev accuse Russia of preparing an alleged “invasion” of Ukraine. Moscow has denied these allegations, repeatedly saying it is not threatening anyone, while expressing grave concern about NATO’s military activities near the Russian border, which it sees as a threat to its national security. Russia has indicated that growing fears of an “invasion” in Ukraine appear to be being used as a pretext to push NATO’s military presence further east in Europe.
According to Lavrov, the ongoing turmoil is being deliberately encouraged by the West to cover up Kiev’s sabotage of the Minsk agreements.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard contributors; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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