UpdatedJune 1, 2022, 4:26 p.m.
A large red flag with a white cross had been installed on the roof of the building in kyiv. But for security reasons, it had to be retracted.
A flag was momentarily unfurled on the roof of the Swiss embassy in kyiv.
Twitter/Ilya Novikov
The Swiss ambassador in kyiv had a large Swiss flag placed on the roof of the embassy. A very bad idea, reacted a wise observer. The diplomat then changed his mind and decided to quickly retract the red banner with the white cross. Explanations.
The story, told by the “Tages-Anzeiger”, begins in March, shortly following the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. kyiv is targeted. The decision was then taken to evacuate the Swiss embassy: all the employees took refuge in Moldova.
Before leaving, however, Ambassador Claude Wild decides to unfurl a large Swiss flag on the roof of the building. A logical decision: the embassy had to be recognizable from the sky so as not to be targeted by the Russian air force. “Official representations must remain recognizable as such from the air during acts of war,” commented the ambassador.
Confusion possible
Except that the standard might actually have the exact opposite effect and expose the embassy rather than protect it. The warning came on Twitter from Ilya Novikov, a Ukrainian blogger and journalist with 50,000 followers. On April 6, he posted a photo of the building with his flag on the roof. And to comment: “Bad idea, the Swiss Embassy in kyiv. Russian pilots will only see it as another hospital.”
According to him, the white cross on a red background is sometimes confused with the emblem of the Red Cross of a hospital. However, despite international conventions, the Russian army sometimes bombed such installations during the conflict, for example in Mariupol.
The Swiss ambassador had followed the debate on Twitter and had taken it very seriously, reports the German daily. Two days following the Ukrainian blogger’s message, he took the decision to remove the flag. It had been rolled up and was therefore no longer visible from the air.
“No one has any illusions anymore regarding the Russians’ respect for the Red Cross or the immunity of the embassies,” Ilya Novikov commented at the time.
After three months of absence, Ambassador Claude Wild and his small team are now back in kyiv. Despite an 11 p.m. curfew and regular anti-aircraft alarms, life has resumed in the Ukrainian capital. And at the Swiss Embassy, the rolled-up flag was removed from the roof. Another floats and has always floated on a mast, in front of the building. But the latter is not really visible from the sky.