Russia reject Switzerland's offer to host talks with Ukraine

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Switzerland has lost its neutral status and is not able to serve as a platform for Russia-Ukraine negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik on Saturday.  

On Friday, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said that his country was ready to mediate between Russia and Ukraine and provide its own platform for negotiations.  

"We note that Switzerland, by joining the illegal unilateral anti-Russia sanctions, imposed by the West, in our understanding, is no longer a neutral state and cannot perform a mediating role in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, including the provision of its own platform," Zakharova said.

Earlier in February, the head of the CIA, William Burns, traveled to Moscow to offer a peace proposal that includes Ukraine officially giving up "around 20 percent" to Russia, Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported citing high-ranking German bipartisan officials.

Burns submitted the peace offering on behalf of the President of the United States Joe Biden, the report noted.

The Washington Post reported earlier that the head of the CIA Burns made a secret visit to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and officials from local intelligence organizations.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand said earlier this month, citing a US official, that talks included measures to de-escalate tensions with Russia.

According to NZZ, citing senior German foreign affairs politician, Burns submitted the proposal plan in mid-January, adding that both Moscow and Kiev rejected it.

The newspaper reported that the US proposal offered "around 20 percent of Ukraine's territory" to Russia, almost the size of the Donbass region.

Ukraine refused the plan "because they are not willing to have their territory divided," while Moscow said it will "will win the war in the long run anyway," the report continued.

American news outlet Newsweek cited Sean Davett, the deputy spokesperson at the White House National Security Council, as calling the report "not accurate".

Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy told Newsweek that the NZZ report was "interesting," but that he couldn't "comment [on] speculation."

The news site, citing the German officials, added that Biden wanted to avoid a lengthy war, so he offered to drop the large territory to Russia.

According to the Swiss-German newspaper, Biden announced sending the M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine following the rejection of both Kiev and Moscow of the proposal.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on January 11 that talks between Moscow and Kiev "are now impossible since there are no conditions for them either de facto or de jure."

Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy told Newsweek that peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow "will happen inevitably. But it's rather between Russia and the West, Ukraine has shown full lack of sovereignty. The more the West waits, the worse the outcome will be for Kyiv."

Commenting on the NZZ report, the White House denied that Burns, on behalf of Biden, offered Russia to take one-fifth of Ukraine's as means of ending the war.

A CIA official told Newsweek that the report was "completely false".