Switzerland said it has Russian assets worth $ 48.5 billion

Berlin. Swiss authorities said on Thursday that they had received information about 46.1 billion francs ($48.5 billion) in assets held by Russian citizens and entities in the Alpine country after sanctions were imposed on Russia earlier this year. Switzerland has also implemented sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Although the Alpine country is not a member of the European Union, it has close ties with the 27-nation bloc.

The Secretariat of Switzerland said that as of 25 November the total amount frozen under the sanctions in Switzerland was 7.5 billion francs. Last February, Switzerland’s president said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unacceptable and would accept sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia, including asset freezes. Ignazio Cassis said at a press conference on Monday that the assets of rich Russians who have illegally accumulated money will be confiscated.

He had said that Russia’s attack is unacceptable on moral and political grounds. Significantly, the Swiss government has refrained from directly condemning Russia’s action because it has a history of remaining neutral and playing the role of a mediator between the opposing countries. The President said, “The Federal Council has decided to accept the sanctions imposed by the European Union.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Swiss government to freeze the bank accounts of all Russian influential industrialists. Switzerland’s state broadcaster SRF had reported that Zelensky addressed thousands of anti-war protesters in the Swiss city of Bern via livestream. He had said, ‘The people who waged this war have money in your banks. Help fight this so that their funds are frozen. It would be good to take away those privileges from them.

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Tags: russia ukraine war, Switzerland