So far, initiatives by individual countries in particular have tried to work towards an end to the Ukraine war – with little success. Italy’s Foreign Minister Di Maio now wants to launch a joint offensive.
According to its foreign minister, Italy has developed a plan for a peace solution in the Ukraine war. “A diplomatic counter-offensive is now needed,” said Luigi Di Maio in an interview with the newspaper “La Stampa” (Saturday).
The 35-year-old criticized that only individual states were currently trying to mediate. Now they want to get all relevant international organizations to cooperate. A first goal is to achieve local pauses in fighting, followed by a ceasefire, work on neutrality and finally a peace agreement.
Plan has been submitted to the G7 countries
The plan was developed by diplomats and the Italian government and presented to the negotiators of the seven most important industrialized nations (G7), Di Maio said. He also spoke to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The UN, EU and OSCE should involve other countries like Turkey and India as the main working group.
However, Di Maio was somewhat pessimistic about the current situation in negotiations with Russia: “I don’t want to appear like a doomsayer, but I don’t see any negotiations at any table,” he said. “Individual actions will not persuade Vladimir Putin to negotiate.”
The politician from the populist Five Star Movement saw another problem with the issue of grain deliveries from Ukraine, which is an important export country. “All studies show that there is only one way to survive the grain and wheat shortages: create a protected corridor to allow grain transport across the sea from the Ukrainian coast,” Di Maio explained. It’s too difficult overland. “If Russia continues to block access to the sea, it will be responsible for new wars,” he said.
