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Bern stops business deal with Russia

Bern
Official Bern got involved in stopping the deal, according to SonntagsBlick Keystone / Thomas Hodel

The federal authorities have stopped a Swiss firm’s million-franc technology deal with Russia over concerns about how the items could be used, reports the newspaper SonntagsBlick.

“There were considerable doubts over the plausibility of the final use,” a spokesman from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) told the newspaperExternal link. The Swiss firm has not been named.

According to the newspaper,External link between July and September this year, Moscow tried to get hold of certain Swiss technology.

The move, worth CHF1.3 million ($1.4 milion), came via a private Russian firm, which claimed the turntables were for civilian use, SonntagsBlick said.

But the federal authorities stopped the deal because it believed that the items could go on to a military recipient. The technology could be used to make sensors for fighter jets and missiles or be deployed in electronic combat systems, the report added.

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