The government has flown-face after procrastinating. The Confederation is a turntable in the Russian financial and tanker device.
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In the country of slowness, “Better late than never” to take “a major decision that will date in the history of Swiss neutrality,” commented the editorialists, without much tapping on the pressures exerted by All parts on the Helvetic Executive. As he dragged his feet since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that the annoyance was rising within the country (manifestations in Bern and Geneva on Saturday, February 26) than The Federal Council (Government) announced Monday that it ultimately took over the entire sanctions of the European Union (EU) against Russia and that it would freeze the assets of the persons concerned. A real revolution, since the Alpine nation had preferred to refrain from taking such measures in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. She had then invoked her neutrality and potential mediator posture, always ready to offer her “good offices”.
At a rather solemn press conference in the presence of four of the seven federal councilors, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, also President of the Confederation for the current year, explained that “do the game of An aggressor, it is not neutral. As a signatory and custodian state of the Geneva Convention, we are required to respect humanitarian law and we can not remain spectators when it is trampled “.
playground
While countries like Sweden and Finland, also neutral but members of the EU, now send weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves, the change of doctrine in Switzerland is explained first by a will. to avoid a brutal image damage. “The Government has clearly admitted that a strict neutrality position would no longer be understood by its European neighbors and by a large part of the international community, notes Jean-Marc Rickli, Director of the Global Risk Department at Geneva Center for Security Policy. L ‘Legalist interpretation of this neutrality had also caused many teeth grindings in the left and right parties. The waiting position of the Federal Council had become untenable. “On the Swiss Political Exchequer, only the party of the hard right populist UDC opposed sanctions.
The decision is not innocuous. For three decades, Russian oligarchs find in Switzerland all the services they need to transform their rubles into safe investments or hide them into complex offshore structures. Private bankers, lawyers, notaries, tax specialists, real estate agents and brokers are at low care for a clientele that has gradually taken as much importance as that of the Gulf, a long time used. Many solutions, few questions posed on the origin of funds, legendary discretion, and luxurious private colleges for offspring. The Russians made Geneva one of their favorite playgrounds in Europe, along with London, which has become “Londongrad”.
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