Russian MFA summons Swiss envoy over possible asset confiscation

Swiss Ambassador Krystyna Marty Lang was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and presented with a demarche regarding the decision of her country's parliament to develop a legal basis for the confiscation of Russia's state assets, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, Report informs via Russian media.

“It is emphasized that the Russian side strongly condemns this step by the Swiss authorities, which grossly violates the fundamental principles and norms of international law regarding state immunity,” the ministry said.

The ministry added that “any encroachment on Russian state property under the cover of any contrived ‘reparation mechanism’ will be nothing more than theft at the state level.”

On March 7, the Council of States spoke in favor of transferring Russian assets frozen in Switzerland to Ukraine. Twenty-one votes were for this decision, 19 were against, and three deputies abstained. The SRF TV noted that the petition approved by parliament is symbolic; the document can be interpreted as a call for both foreign and domestic policy measures.

According to the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, which monitors compliance with sanctions against Russia, as of December 1, 2023, the country's authorities froze Russian assets worth 7.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.8 billion).

On March 12, the FT reported that the European Union plans to send Ukraine the first batch of profit from frozen Russian assets – 2 to 3 billion euros - already in July. The European Commission, as the FT writes, has prepared a plan for the confiscation of profits received after February 2024.