Imperial Russia and Switzerland

Contacts of some consequence between the Swiss and the Russians started as early as the 17th century, when a twenty-year-old Swiss soldier François (Franz) Lefort came to Moscow in 1675 to serve the Romanov Dynasty, and soon reached a position of prominence. Although Czar Peter I was crowned while still a child (1682), it was Peter's sister Sophia, and later his mother Nataliya Naryshkina, and their boyar relatives, who were running the country for over a decade after - leaving young Peter with plenty of time to dream of how to change his country when he has real power. Lefort happened to be one of the people who greatly influenced the young Czar's world view, and, once Peter became fully in charge of the country, the Swiss soldier became one of his top advisers and became highly influential during the first several years of Peter's modernization campaign.

Even though Lefort died fairly early in Peter's reign (1699), quite a few other Swiss soldiers, adventurers, educators, and scholars made a contribution in the history of Russian Empire. The Swiss-Italian architect Domenico Trezzini was the general manager of the construction of Saint Petersburg until 1712,^[1] and is credited with the creation of Petrine Baroque, characteristic of that city's early architecture. The mathematician Leonhard Euler and five members of the Bernoulli family became members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Science. A century after Lefort, Frédéric-César de La Harpe was influential in the upbringing of the future Czar Alexander I.

The first large-scale appearance of Russians in Switzerland dates to the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, when Suvorov's army fought back and forth across Switzerland and northern Italy in 1799–1800. While the results of these campaigns were inconclusive, they earned Suvorov the rank of Generalissimo, and became (in particular, the retreat over Panix Pass) a favorite topic for Russian painters.

To reciprocate, around 8,000 Swiss men joined Napoleon's army that invaded Russia in 1812. Only a few hundreds survived the disastrous campaign. The heroism of the Swiss at Berezina is immortalized in the Beresinalied.

In the 19th century Switzerland became a popular refuge with Russian anti-Czar émigrés, due to its culture of freedom, absence of a particularly close relationship between the Swiss republican government and that of Imperial Russia, and on occasions, its neutrality in wars as well. The list of Russian exiles who found shelter in Switzerland runs from Alexander Herzen, who became a Swiss citizen^[1] in 1851, to Vladimir Lenin, who visited Switzerland first in 1891 and then lived in official exile in Zurich between 1914 and 1917 before and during World War I. He was only able to leave his Swiss exile in April 1917 during the Russian Revolution thanks to the so-called sealed train organised by German officials.^[2][3]

The same reasons made the country a magnet for Russian students. The number of Russian students in Switzerland peaked in 1906–07, just after the defeat of the Russian Revolution in 1905, when 36% of all university students in Switzerland were Russians (2,322 out of the total of 6,444).^[1] Not only the majority of all foreign students enrolled in Swiss universities that year (there were 3,784 of them^[4]) had come from Russia, over two-thirds of these Russian students (1,507 of 2,322) were female mostly because of the Russian educational qualification for the Jewish population.^[5]

Russian Federation and Switzerland

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of Russian visitors and migrants to Western Europe increased significantly, compared to the Soviet period. However, for most of them Switzerland remained somewhat of a flyover country on the way to the more popular Mediterranean destinations.^[6]

The tranquility turned into tragedy on 1 July 2002, when a Bashkirian charter flight collided with a DHL cargo plane just before entering Swiss air space from Germany. All 71 people aboard the two aircraft died in the collision. Having lost his entire family, Vitaly Kaloyev killed the air traffic controller, Peter Nielsen, whom he deemed responsible for the accident.

Russia has allegedly sent several spies to Switzerland over the years. In 2018, a confidential intelligence report compiled for the Swiss government found that one in four Russian diplomats based in Switzerland is a spy.^[7][8] According to the Swiss authorities, this trend has increased since 2022.^[9] According to the Swiss authorities, Russia has about 80 spies located in Switzerland.^[10]

Russian spies had also allegedly targeted a laboratory in Spiez in 2018 that was testing the nerve agent used on Sergei Skripal.^[11]

In 2020, the Swiss police made the public aware that two "Russian spies", one of whom was disguised as a plumber, had travelled to Davos with diplomatic passports prior to the Annual Meeting. The Russian Embassy in Bern denied having carried out "preparatory work" for spying on the World Economic Forum.^[12][13]

In June 2021, Switzerland hosted the 2021 Russia–United States summit, in Geneva.

Switzerland hosts several schools linked to Russia on its territory. One is named Swiss School for International Relations (SSIR) in Geneva. Another well-known school is Le Centre international Lomonosov de l’Université d’Etat de Moscou (CIL).^[14]

Sanctions against Russia 2022-2024

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Switzerland decided to adopt all E.U. sanctions against Russia.^[15] According to the Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, the measures were "unprecedented but consistent with Swiss neutrality". The administration also confirmed that Switzerland would continue to offer its services to find a peaceful solution in the conflict. Switzerland only participates in humanitarian missions and provides relief supplies to the Ukrainian population and neighbouring countries.^[16] In total, about 870 people and more than 60 companies are subject to Swiss sanctions.^[17] Switzerland closed its airspace to Russian aircraft in March 2022.^[18] According to a 2022-security survey, 77% of Swiss feel it is right for Switzerland to support sanctions against Russia but only 27% support a NATO alliance.^[19] Switzerland has officially called for the return of Crimea and all occupied Ukrainian territory back to Ukraine.^[20]

In March 2022, the business association Economiesuisse informed that its sanctions against Russia would have a limited effect on the Swiss export economy. However, KOF (a Swiss economic research institute) reported that in case of tougher sanctions in the future, like for example a gas and oil ban, Swiss gross domestic product (GDP) would fall by 3-4 percentage points, spread over two years.^[21][22]

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva expressed his disappointment and stressed the previously excellent relations between the two nations. On 6 March 2022, Russia has listed Switzerland as a country that has taken "unfriendly actions" against Russian citizens. Russia will require additional controls for Swiss-Russian businesses in the aftermath of the severe sanctions Switzerland imposed on Russian entities.^[23]

The Russian elites had stored billions of rubles of assets in Swiss banks. As the sanctions were imposed they shifted some of it to countries that do not impose sanctions like the UAE,^[24] but also to western countries like France, the UK and the US.^[25]

In August, Russia turned down an offer from Switzerland to represent Ukraine's interests in Moscow, after Ukraine agreed on a mandate for Switzerland to represent its interests in Russia. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said the plan was not acceptable as it does not consider Switzerland to be a neutral country after Bern joined sanctions against Russia.^[26]

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis spoke briefly with Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov after the 77th UN General Assembly Session on 22 September 2022. Cassis told the assembly earlier that Switzerland would not recognize the result of the referendums in the disputed Donbass regions of Ukraine. Lavrov told Cassis that Switzerland had left the path of neutrality because of sanctions. Cassis reiterated Switzerland's neutral position by not participating militarily in the conflict.^[27][28]

As of March 2022, $6.2 billion of Russian money was frozen by the Swiss authorities.^[29] The Helsinki Commission (a United States influential commission) has accused Switzerland of “helping hide [Russian] funds” and accuses lawyers in Switzerland of being the “enablers”. The Swiss Federal Council has objected to this characterization.^[30]

As of June 2022, the "official" amount of non-sanctioned Russian-owned assets in Switzerland was CHF 46.1 billion, divided among 123 person or entities and 7,548 business relationships.^[31] This amount is based on the obligation to report deposits of over CHF100,000 belonging to Russians with no EU or EFTA connections only but does not account for the full amount.^[32]

In February 2023, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice determined that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Swiss constitution and the prevailing legal order. Switzerland froze financial assets from Russian individuals and companies worth 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.13 billion), and fully implemented EU sanctions. The decision would make any expropriation of private Russian assets of lawful origin without compensation illegal under Swiss law.^[33]

Leading Russian opposition figures, including financier Bill Browder, have criticised Switzerland by saying the country is not doing nearly enough, while granting Russia too many loopholes in commodities trading, real estate investing or banking sector.^[34][35][36] According to the Wall Street Journal in 2022, a front named "Bridgewaters" has been mainly used to hide assets of some Russian billionaires around the world, including in Switzerland.^[37] According to U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland in 2023, "Switzerland could block an additional CHF 50-100 billion” of the Russian assets.^[38]

In March 2023, US authorities said they were investigating Credit Suisse and UBS and other big banks over Russian sanctions.^[39]

In May 2023, OFAC imposed new sanctions on Swiss-based DuLac Capital Ltd and its Swiss director for Russia in Dubai (Anselm Oskar Schmucki). Schmucki, a former UBS banking representative in Moscow with close ties to Russian-based businesses in the UAE was accused to have close business relationships to Russian individuals suspected of money laundering and organized crime through shell companies operating in Russia, Cyprus and Switzerland.^[40][41]

Between February 2022 and May 2023, the US has sanctioned 24 Swiss individuals and 16 Swiss companies. According to swissinfo.ch, Switzerland continues to be in a difficult situation with regard to its economic relations with Russian entities, as it is forced to accept decisions by the U.S. or E.U. without inclusive negotiations.^[42] Switzerland has not joined the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force (REPO) on grounds of neutrality and does not impose its own sanctions, rather it says it had "no choice but to adopt US sanctions", which have extra-territorial reach due to the power of the dollar and the US financial system, according to Swissinfo.^[32]

On August 16, 2023, following the E.U. lead, all sales of securities to Russian nationals became prohibited.^[43]

On 17 April 2024, the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted not to join the international task force for enforcing sanctions against Russia. Switzerland, however does adhere to all sanctions the E.U and the U.S. is imposing but did not favour to join the REPO task force, which would confiscate frozen assets to finance the rebuilding of war-torn Ukraine. According to Justice Minister Beat Jans, Switzerland had an interest not to join the task force in order "to continue to offer good services". Switzerland is planning to host a two-day Ukraine peace conference in June 2024 in the historic alpine resort Burgenstock.^[44]