Switzerland mulls Ukraine trade restriction extension

Switzerland balancing neutrality with Ukraine trade Keystone / Anthony Anex

Switzerland not only sanctions Russia but also prohibits goods being exported to Ukraine that could be used in the conflict. The Swiss government wants to extend Ukraine trade restrictions by enshrining temporary emergency powers into a new law.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Switzerland largely adopts European Union sanctions against Russia. But to ensure neutrality in a conflict zone, the Swiss government also restricts trade with Ukraine.

Switzerland sanctions Russia under the embargo law. In the absence of a corresponding legal basis for Ukraine, the Federal Council exercises emergency powers under the constitution.

+ How neutrality vote could affect Swiss policy

Jörg Künzli, a professor of constitutional and international law at the University of Bern, says the Swiss government is refusing to make any concessions regarding neutrality. “Therefore, the Federal Council felt obligated to introduce restrictions on war-related goods, also to the detriment of Ukraine,” he told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

The EU sanctions against Russia target not only military equipment such as tanks, ammunition, and fighter jets, but a wider range of so-called dual use goods.

+ How Russia pushes neutral states closer to NATO

Helmets and fuel

Sanctions affect both civilian and military technologies. They encompasses items such as body armor, helmets, camouflage nets and even certain types of aviation fuel and chemicals.

The Federal Council writes that it has no other choice than to apply trade restrictions on Ukraine in addition to Russia. The principle of equal treatment under the neutrality law obliges Switzerland to treat both parties to an international armed conflict equally with regard to the export and transit of war-related goods.

Künzli cannot understand this argument in the light of a clear war of aggression. Switzerland could interpret neutrality in light of the UN Charter’s prohibition of the use of force, he said. The government could limit sanctions imposed on both countries to the prohibition the weapons exports under the War Materiel Act . “That would certainly be justifiable with the core principle of neutrality,” said Künzli.

Russia, as the aggressor, could still be subject to broad sanctions under the embargo law, similar to the EU’s approach, Künzli added. Ukraine would not receive any war materiel from Switzerland, but it could trade in all other goods.

Public opinion

The Federal Council does not share this view. After four years of emergency powers, it wants to enshrine the emergency sanctions against Ukraine in a formal law and submit it to parliament. The draft law is currently undergoing public consultation.

Recent polls show that the Swiss population is prepared to help Ukraine not only with humanitarian aid but also with military assistance. The consultation process on the Ukraine sanctions law will show whether political parties, associations, businesses, and the public support the government’s proposed law.

Adapted from German by AI/mga

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]