© KEYSTONE/MARTIAL TREZZINI
Switzerland is proceeding with caution in the Russian-Ukrainian dossier. The Federal Council intends to first analyze the situation, before taking a decision on possible sanctions.
The European Union has taken targeted sanctions once morest the 351 Russian parliamentarians, who approved the recognition of the separatist Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and 27 other personalities. The United States has decided on a first tranche of economic sanctions. Berlin has even suspended work on the important Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. And Switzerland? She delays.
Concern and Condemnation
Expected all day, the Federal Council finally did not appear before the press on Wednesday. He sent a press release in which he broadly repeated the position presented the day before by State Secretary Livia Leu.
Bern is concerned regarding the situation in eastern Ukraine and condemns Russia’s actions. They constitute a violation of international law and the Minsk agreements, as well as an attack on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, denounces the government which refuses to recognize the independence of the regions.
Possible Swiss sanctions are still not on the agenda. Bern continues to mobilize for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, he continues. The Federal Council wants above all to prevent Switzerland from being used as a platform to circumvent Western sanctions. It thus seems to be following the path taken following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Before any decision, he will analyze the nature of the Western sanctions adopted. And to specify to be in permanent contact with several countries to discuss the current situation.
Several measures possible
If it deems it necessary, the government might enact coercive measures by way of ordinance to apply the sanctions decided by its main partners. These might be restrictions on the traffic of goods or services, financial sanctions, entry and transit bans, or a combination of these measures.
