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South African president decides not to attend Swiss conference on Ukraine — press office

The day before, reports surfaced that President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also decided not to participate in the conference on Ukraine

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will not attend the conference on Ukraine scheduled for June 15-16 in Switzerland, South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told TASS.

"No he won't make it due to post election constitutional processes that will be underway," the diplomat said in response to a related question.

South African general elections will be held on May 29, 2024. In South Africa, the leader of the party winning the general election becomes the country’s president. The ruling party has approved Ramaphosa as its presidential candidate.

The day before, reports surfaced that President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also decided not to participate in the conference on Ukraine. According to CNN Brasil, the Brazilian authorities decided there was no point in the president’s participation, as neither of the two parties to the conflict will participate.

As the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs reported earlier, Bern had invited more than 160 delegations to the conference on Ukraine, including from the G7, G20 and BRICS countries. According to the country's authorities, Russia has not been invited at this point. Russia is not going to participate in the conference on Ukraine in Switzerland, or in any other events on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's "peace formula," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Commenting on these plans, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that this conference is "a path to nowhere" and Moscow doesn’t see the West’s readiness for an honest dialogue.

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Ukraine crisis Switzerland South Africa

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