German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is keeping expectations low for the international peace conference in Switzerland, which aims to help chart a path toward an end to the war in Ukraine.
“This is a diplomatic seedling that we water so that it can grow,” he said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF on Saturday morning.
The meeting, which starts later on Saturday, is taking place at the initiative of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky is attending. Russia is not invited.
The German chancellor was speaking ahead of his departure from the three-day G7 summit near the southern Italian city of Bari. He will then join dozens of other world leaders at the Swiss-hosted peace conference in Ukraine near Lucerne.
Scholz said he hoped the conference would “lay the groundwork” for further negotiations in which Russia would participate.
He also called on Russia’s allies, including China, to “exert their influence” on Moscow. However, China is also not participating in the meeting.
