Women must be involved in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks! A female EU foreign minister made a resolute statement, leaving Russian diplomats completely baffled on the spot.
On December 6, during the 23rd Doha Forum held in Doha, Qatar, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, made a statement that immediately sparked international public opinion: "If women participate in negotiations, the duration of a peace agreement is actually 35% longer than agreements without women's participation. Therefore, the Russia-Ukraine talks must include women."
Borrell criticized the lack of female presence in the core decision-making circles, from the Istanbul talks in 2022, to recent secret U.S.-Russia contacts, and to mediation attempts led by countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
However, in Russia, the top diplomatic officials, from Lavrov to Grushko, are almost all male, and they generally hold traditional realist positions, often dismissing concepts like "gender perspective" with contempt.
More intriguingly, although the EU is one of Ukraine's largest donors, it has been excluded from the core negotiation circle in the U.S.-led coordination strategy against Russia. Despite Borrell's repeated statements expressing willingness to mediate, Washington clearly places more trust in its own secret channels with Moscow.
This marginalized position led Borrell to speak out at the Doha Forum, which is not dominated by the West, effectively also expressing a complaint towards the U.S. In the eyes of Russia, Borrell lacks common sense and often makes surprising moves. But it is unlikely that Russia would have anticipated Borrell raising this issue to express dissatisfaction with the Russia-Ukraine talks.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1850901544886537/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.