Switzerland urged to join taskforce on Russian sanctions

Switzerland is still under pressure to appease international partners. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Ambassadors from the G7 countries have sent a letter to the Swiss government asking it to join an international taskforce for implementing the sanctions on Russian oligarchs, the Handelszeitung newspaper has reported.

The letter was specifically about the G7’s REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs) taskforce, which Bern has to date declined to join, the newspaper wroteExternal link on Thursday. It cited a spokesman for the economics ministry, who confirmed that the request had been received, but that the government had not yet discussed it.

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Another ministry spokesman told the newspaper on Friday that the question of “if and how Switzerland would participate in the taskforce was currently being looked at by the relevant federal services”.

The government already closely follows REPO’s activities, the spokesman added.

International strain

The Handelszeitung suggests that pressure is building on the Swiss government to step up its efforts to freeze more Russian assets.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) recently came under criticism by US Ambassador Scott Miller, who told the NZZ newspaper that – contrary to what SECO itself claimed – there was “still a lot of work to do”.

Miller said that the CHF7.75 billion in Russian assets frozen by Switzerland to date could climb by “an additional CHF50-100 billion”. He also urged Swiss participation in REPO, which is a joint coordination effort by the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US) along with Australia and the European Commission.

In a separate statement, Miller also complained recently that in dealing with Switzerland – which is not a European Union (EU) member – always requires an “extra solution”.

Switzerland, which already mulled the idea of REPO participation last year, has to date preferred to deal with international partners outside this framework, the Handelszeitung writes. According to SECO, the country is also in regular contact with the EU’s ‘Freeze and Seize’ taskforce.