Macron pitches Switzerland for Putin-Zelensky meeting

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday suggested Switzerland as a possible host nation for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In an interview that aired Tuesday on French news channel LCI, Macron said the bilateral talks could take place in Europe, though he specified they would not be held in France.

“It will be [hosted by] a neutral country, maybe Switzerland — I’m pushing for Geneva — or another country,” Macron said, according to a translation in the French newspaper Le Monde.

“The last time there were bilateral talks, they were held in Istanbul,” he added, according to the news outlet.

President Trump said he spoke to Putin on Monday about arranging a time and place for a bilateral talk with Zelensky. Trump said that, following that meeting, he would join for trilateral talks that would then be followed by a multilateral meeting with other European leaders.

Putin is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), but Macron said in his latest interview the Russian leader could be issued immunity during the talks, saying, “Peace must move forward, so we must find a place,” according to a translation of the remarks.  

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis welcomed the prospect of hosting a summit for the talks, telling Swiss public broadcaster SRF: “We are ready for such a meeting, and we also thank you for the trust placed in us. We have always signaled our willingness, but it naturally depends on the will of the major powers,” according to a translation.

Cassis also suggested the ICC arrest warrant could be avoided if Geneva held the summit.

“We have clarified the legal situation,” Cassis said. “We could hold such a meeting, and we know what needs to be done to ensure it goes smoothly. We can do this despite the arrest warrant against Putin because of our special role and Geneva’s role as the European headquarters of the U.N.”

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