MINSK. April 12 (Interfax) - The Swiss plan and the Chinese peace initiative for Ukraine are incompatible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
"The approaches of China and Switzerland, which acts on the orders from the United States and its allies, are incompatible. The hedgehog and timid deer must ne'er be harnessed to one cart. That's a combination hard to imagine," Lavrov said at a press conference in Minsk.
"The Chinese approach fully fits our general philosophy, including in the context of the intensified discussion on how to maintain Eurasian security throughout our continent," he said.
Reporters asked Lavrov whether the Chinese peace plan could be implemented and whether Russia would accept an invitation to the conference in Switzerland if China agrees to go there and make it a condition to discuss its initiative there.
"First of all, they are not going to invite us, they have said loud and clear that they need to formulate a collective ultimatum to Russia first. This alone nullifies any chance for success of the Swiss undertaking," Lavrov said.
"China's 12-point plan and the Swiss formula are incompatible, because the Swiss formula aims to draw as many countries as possible by hook and by crook and to give ultimatums to Russia. Meanwhile, China thinks we should first deal with systemic security problems in the common area and the root causes of the current situation in Ukraine, which reflects a hybrid war plotted against us by the West for a long time and currently fought by the hands and bodies of Ukrainian men and women. The Chinese approach says that a serious discussion of an agreement, which takes the lawful interests and security of all sides into account, should begin only after these root causes are eliminated," Lavrov said.