RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin has warned a forthcoming peace conference to which it is not invited that it will not accept peace proposals “enforced” by others.

The Swiss government announced on Wednesday it will host an international conference in June to help chart a path toward peace in Ukraine over two year’s since Russia invaded its neighbour.

The Swiss expressed hope that Russia might join in the peace process someday.

But Mr Putin charged that Russia hadn’t been invited to join June’s talks, while pointing to Swiss recognition that a peace process can’t happen without Russia.

He said: “They aren't inviting us there. 

“Moreover, they think there is nothing for us to do there, but at the same time they say that it’s impossible to decide anything without us. It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad.”

Russia has dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula, requiring Moscow to withdraw all troops from Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders, pay compensation to Ukraine and face an international tribunal for its action.

Speaking during Thursday’s meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, President Putin said that Russia is open for negotiations, but will never accept “schemes that have nothing to do with reality.”

Mr Putin has repeatedly said that he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to prevent Ukraine from posing a security threat to Russia by joining Nato. 

Kiev, the United States and their allies have denounced Russia’s military campaign as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Western analysts have become gloomier about Ukraine’s prospects after its summer counteroffensive last year failed to take ground, with Russia’s larger army better able to sit out a war of attrition.