Switzerland offered to host peace talks on Ukraine. Russia replied that the offer no longer exists as an offer - because, according to Moscow, neither does the neutrality that made it worth anything. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said as much without much circling around it.

"We have pointed out repeatedly that, unfortunately, little remains of Swiss neutrality as we know it. In that sense Geneva as a neutral platform, symbolising the spirit of consensus, can of course no longer be viewed that way", Grushko said, adding that the Swiss government's moves have turned the country into a de facto associate member of NATO, if not a direct one.

The offer and the refusal

Swiss President Guy Parmelin had earlier said the country is ready to provide a venue for peace talks on Ukraine. Russia's ambassador in Bern, Sergey Garmonin, responded that Russia does not need the "good offices" of Switzerland, which in Moscow's view has lost its former standing as a credible neutral state. The reason the diplomat gives is specific: Switzerland adopts EU sanctions.

This is worth pausing on. Geneva is not just a city with a pretty lake - it is an institution, a place where agreements were signed for half a century precisely because no side could claim the host was rooting for anyone. The last round of trilateral talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine took place in Geneva, on 17 and 18 February. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, described those talks at the time as difficult but constructive.

What is left when the neutral table is gone

If seven months later the same venue is no longer acceptable, then Geneva has not changed - the willingness to sit down has. Neutrality is useful to whoever wants a deal and inconvenient to whoever wants time. Rejecting the venue is a cheaper way of rejecting the conversation than openly saying there will be no negotiations.

The question that remains is practical: which city is next? Every country that volunteers will be measured by the same yardstick - does it impose sanctions, is it in NATO, how did it vote on some resolution. With those criteria, the list of acceptable hosts narrows down to the countries with the least interest in the talks succeeding at all.

The Balkans know this game by heart. An argument about the venue is the oldest way of postponing the argument about the substance.