Bern: Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced that his country is ready to grant Russian President Vladimir Putin "immunity" should he attend a conference on peace in Ukraine, despite the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

According to Qatar News Agency, Cassis stated during a press conference with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani in Bern that the Swiss government established last year rules for granting immunity to individuals targeted by international arrest warrants if they participate in peace conferences and not for personal purposes.

He added that Switzerland has sufficient experience to host such a meeting, noting that Moscow has become hesitant to engage with his country after Switzerland adopted European sanctions imposed on Russia.

The Swiss minister explained that his country reiterated its readiness to host such meetings during his communications with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, but Russia lost interest after the adoption of sanctions.

Cassis pointed to the participation of Valentina Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, in the General Assembly meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, despite being subject to sanctions due to her support for the war.

Putin's last visit to Geneva was on June 16, 2021, when he met with then-US President Joe Biden, while the last direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Earlier today, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea of a possible summit to conduct negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a European country, suggesting that it be a neutral country, and therefore possibly Switzerland, expressing his desire for Geneva to be the meeting place.