After meeting a Ukrainian delegation, Cassis also travels to Russia.Image: keystone
On Thursday and Friday, Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis will travel to Moscow as OSCE Chairman to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
02/05/2026, 06:5902/05/2026, 06:59
Discussions are planned about efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The Swiss Foreign Minister is traveling as part of Switzerland’s OSCE Chairmanship, accompanied by OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) announced on Wednesday.
The meeting with Lavrov is scheduled for Friday, a spokeswoman for Cassis’ department said at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. She thereby confirmed a statement by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
The war in Ukraine is the “top priority” for the Swiss presidency, Cassis said in January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. As chairman, he wanted to take on a mediator role. In the event of a ceasefire, the OSCE must be ready within 24 to 48 hours, for example to observe the ceasefire on the so-called contact line.
The possible role of the OSCE in promoting a just and lasting peace should be discussed in Moscow, the OSCE statement continued. The organization’s role as a platform for dialogue will also be an issue.
Meeting in Kyiv on Monday
On Monday, Cassis traveled to Kiev with Sinirlioglu. There they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
“Our priority is to support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war through a negotiated solution,” Cassis was quoted as saying.
Since Wednesday, talks between Ukraine, Russia and the USA about ways out of the war in Ukraine have been underway in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. Further talks will take place on Thursday, as the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian delegation said, according to the French news agency AFP.
The OSCE in brief
The OSCE has 57 participating states across three continents. This includes all European states except Kosovo, but also Russia, Turkey and Belarus. The USA and Canada as well as Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also there. The OSCE is considered the world’s largest regional security organization.
A different member state takes over the chairmanship of the organization every year. Switzerland has now held this position for the third time after 1996 and 2014. The OSCE has its headquarters in Vienna. (sda)