Slovak President Calls for Major Powers in Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini underscores the need for involvement from global powers like India, China, and the US in peace negotiations for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, he emphasizes Slovakia’s commitment to peace and the importance of initiating actionable dialogue.

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has emphasized the necessity of involving major global players such as India, China, and the United States in peace negotiations to resolve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Speaking to ANI during the 'Summit of the Future' at the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York, Pellegrini said that countries like India could significantly contribute to the peace process, especially given the conflict's proximity to Slovakia's eastern borders.

"I think the peace in Ukraine can be negotiated only with the help of such big players in world politics like India, China, the United States, and so on. It is impossible to have peace summits without one part of the conflict, that is Russia but I think India can play a very important role in these peace negotiations in the future," he remarked. Pellegrini also lauded the recent adoption of a compact for the future, amidst the global surge in conflicts, and raised concerns about the United Nations' current inability to manage these crises effectively.

"I think at this moment there are 56 conflicts around the globe and the UN is not able to handle them. So that's why I'm happy that yesterday a compact for the future was adopted with huge unanimity. Of course, not 100 per cent of countries voted, but I think that was the first signal that the UN and the multilateralism are still alive," he pointed out. Pellegrini reaffirmed Slovakia's long-standing advocacy for peace negotiations, emphasizing the urgent need to commence dialogues aimed at ending the hostilities and loss of life in neighboring Ukraine.

"Slovakia is a neighbour of Ukraine, where we have now a war behind our Eastern borders... We are now very close to a war conflict. But from the beginning, Slovakia has been an advocate of peace negotiations. We have to do our best to try to sit around the table and start the peace negotiations to stop the war and the killing of people," he asserted. He further stressed that merely discussing peace was not sufficient and concrete actions needed to be taken to cease the ongoing violence in Ukraine and other conflict zones.

"Otherwise, if we just continue to keep the war alive and it doesn't matter if it is Ukraine or Israel, every second somebody will be killed on both sides of the conflict. So peace negotiations are crucial. We don't have to speak about it; we have to start to also do something about it," Pellegrini concluded.

(With inputs from agencies.)