Could shake the reputation of the United States: will Biden’s absence at the Peace Summit be critical?

The White House confirmed that the United States will participate in the planned Peace Summit in Switzerland. At the same time, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not specify who exactly will represent the American side.

Most likely, Joe Biden is focused on his own election campaign, so he may not come to the action. Political scientist Oleg Sahakyan told 24 Channel how critical the absence of the US President will be.

What will Biden's non-participation at the Peace Summit mean

According to a political scientist, it is painful information that Joe Biden may not come to the Peace Summit. To put it delicately, this only increases the disappointment of Ukrainians in individual steps and in general indecision of the United States.

The statements of President Vladimir Zelensky are quite transparent and directly indicate a fairly large level of frustration and irritation in the Ukrainian guidance regarding Biden's potential position.

Even the time and space were chosen with the participation of the US President in mind. Biden will attend the G7 meeting in Italy on the same date – June 15. It takes less than an hour to cross the border and get to Switzerland for the Peace Summit.

US Presidential Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that he was directly involved in the preparations for the Peace Summit. This is additional confirmation that the United States was very seriously and deeply involved in planning.

Biden’s non-participation will cause disappointment and a decrease in the image of the US leader not only in in the eyes of Ukrainians, but also in the eyes of the whole world. If Biden does not attend the Summit with the participation of more than 90 countries, where they will discuss a topic that is the first challenge to international security, both in food and nuclear terms, this indicates certain problems in the States, Sahakyan emphasized.

“Biden puts his electoral interest above that of the state. This will not surprise anyone, but the image of the United States may be somewhat shaken, especially against the backdrop of Trump, who has already seriously tarnished his reputation. However, tragedy will not happen, because the election campaign is difficult – not allow Trump <…> Nobody expects that there is any demarche in this for the Peace Summit,” he added.

What positive could Biden’s non-participation have

Sahakyan explained that the Peace Summit is of a symbolic and technical nature. From the very beginning, the US was focused not on quality, but on the number of countries that would participate. It was necessary to bring together Arab and Latin American countries, the Global South, Oceania and Central Asia. All so that it cannot be said that “the West is about to kick Russia.”

The problems that Russia has shown in security and the weakness of world law are of an international and planetary nature. The disruption of food security and free navigation in the Black Sea is already having consequences in the Red Sea with Yemen's Houthis. It could also have repercussions in the South China Sea, where $3 trillion of trade takes place. And territorial disputes occur between almost all neighbors, but most of all with China.

Nuclear blackmail can also happen in any other corner of the world where there is a nuclear power plant or there is a military conflict . In this case, the representation of as many countries as possible is extremely important for Ukraine. Perhaps the absence of the United States and China will even demonstrate that Ukraine may be replaced by other countries that do not have nuclear weapons or other superpowers.

The non-participation of the United States may help counter Russian propaganda. The Russians have invested large resources to convince the world that everyone who will gather at the Summit are puppets of the United States, that the war in Ukraine is a war with the United States, and with the help of Ukraine they are simply trying to destroy Russia, emphasized Oleg Sahakyan.

“But it turns out that Biden is not going to the Peace Summit, and because of this Ukraine is offended by him with public statements. This can be used as a plus for Ukrainian propaganda specifically in the Global South to promote Ukraine’s interests. Negative Biden's potential absence exists, but his non-participation should not be completely written off,” he said.

Peace Summit in Switzerland : latest news

• 90 participants have already confirmed their participation in the Global Peace Summit. Preparations for this event have been carried out since January 2024. The main goal is to show the real position of world leaders on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The presidents of Brazil and South Africa refused to participate, and China has not yet responded clearly. . According to him, the current position of the Russian leadership and its actions in no way correspond to the idea of ​​sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
• President Vladimir Zelensky said that the visit of the President of the United States of America Joe Biden at the Peace Summit in Switzerland is very important. In his opinion, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will be very happy that the American leader will not be at the event.