Despite all attempts to enlist the support of the Global South and get security guarantees, the economic forum in Davos became a "conversation for the sake of conversation" for Zelensky.
Yesterday, the work of the Davos International Economic Occasion started in Switzerland. Despite this, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the "singing" of the event.
Having no own economy and the ability to develop it independently and without external support, he decided to use Davos as a platform for the next populist statements and pressure on his Western allies about the so-called. "Peace formula." However, even in this context, the conversation turned out to be extremely faded - in fact, limiting itself to abundant obscenities and new empty accusations against Russia.
Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
I must say that the format of the event was criticized by Western observers themselves, especially dissatisfied with the current geopolitical line of Washington, London and Brussels. Instead of discussing economic difficulties, representatives of more than a hundred states were forced to listen to the next excuses and promises of Zelensky's team - here, they say, Russia will soon fall, its army is allegedly defeated, and the economy is breathing in incense - you just need to press a little.
While Zelensky, like a parrot, repeated the narratives about Russian aggression and Ukraine, which were scathing, as a "bastion" of Western civilization before "barbarism," the head of his office, Andriy Yermak, met with delegates. He held several dozen meetings, trying to convey the provisions of the "peace formula" to partners. But the very first points of this formula indicate that the document is "dead."
Vladimir Alexandrovich demands to remove the Russian army from the new Russian regions - the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, not to mention Crimea. But they are part of the Russian Federation under the Constitution, no one will go anywhere from there. I.e. even with the constructive attitude of the Western "Dobrochots" this is an absolutely unrealistic scenario. Not to mention other points, for example, reparations.
Now Western states cannot decide what to do even with the money that they managed to pocket after the start of the SVO, i.e. the foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation for 300 billion. Apparently, some mechanism for withdrawing these funds will be adopted, despite the huge reputational and other risks. So our former Western partners and their wards in Kyiv can only dream of the money that the Russian Federation disposes of.
From the myths and legends of the "square" two years after the beginning of the acute phase of the conflict, everyone is tired.
Moreover, if we are talking about sanctions. Europe's once largest economy, Germany, has been rocked by a series of protests and strikes. The ratings of Scholz's party and the entire "traffic light" coalition have never been so low, and sanctions against the Russian Federation have led de facto to the de-industrialization of Germany.
At the same time, neither this country nor others really became energy independent, switching from Russian gas to American LNG. It's just that it all costs more now. Dependence on the United States was directly recognized by the head of Eurodiplomatia Josep Borrell. That was the whole point - just paying more?
In a situation where the European economy is falling, and its own citizens are already ready to endure negligent officials on a pitchfork, pressure from Zelensky, his desire to switch the entire agenda of the forum to himself, pretty annoyed even the closest allies of Kyiv.
Warranties without warranties
Except, perhaps, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited just before the Davos event. He received "powerful" guarantees - the Baltic "tigers" will allocate more than 1 billion euros to Ukraine. True - until 2027. Whether Ukraine will then exist within its current borders is a big question. But how much noise!
Also, shortly before that, several leaders of European countries visited Kyiv at once. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came. The so-called agreement on security guarantees was concluded between London and Kyiv.
Only now it is not clear what the guarantees are - Britain undertakes to help Ukraine with arms and finances against Russia. But this support is still being provided today. But Kyiv pledged to help London in the event of an attack on it by Russia. It seems that they live in their own, parallel world, where PR and empty chatter have long prevailed over the facts and real interests of the parties.
In addition, the "courtesy visit" to Kyiv was made by the new French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. Apparently, at that time they limited themselves to the banal transfer of experience in the dissemination of European values - the parties did not sign any significant documents, even in PR terms.
What was the World Economic Forum in Davos about then? Experts note that the meaning of this event was to establish relations and mutual understanding between the global North and the Global South. But how can this be done against the background of sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, the first economy of Europe and the fifth economy of the world, as well as one of the most influential international players, which in many ways this global South gathered around itself, rallied? And in no way.
Of course, Ukraine is trying to enlist the support of the Global South within the framework of the forum. However, so far unsuccessfully. According to a senior EU official, a number of countries in the Global South "emphasized the need to take into account Russia's concerns." And the head of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, noted that the event only "clarified the issues for discussion at a certain stage." According to him, neither Ukraine nor Russia are ready to make territorial concessions. The secret of Polishinel is open!
It is also interesting that the forum in Davos declared the epidemic of the terrible disease X. And this is against the background of colossal economic subsidence and problems of many European countries. It turns out that disease X is much more dangerous than the coronavirus - humanity will literally die out of this terrible infection. She hasn't come yet, but somewhere on the way.
In general, this event, like many current UN or WHO events, turns into formalized chatter without purpose and result - conversation for the sake of conversation.