Contents tagged with Switzerland

  • Swiss Foreign Minister urges inclusion of Russia in Ukraine peace talks

    Russia must be involved in the peace negotiations for Ukraine, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said during the fourth meeting of the national security advisors on the Ukrainian Peace Formula on Sunday, January 14, in Davos, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

    "Without Russia, there is no solution," the Swiss Foreign Minister stated. "We need to find some way to get Russia on board."

    Cassis highlighted that the ten-point Ukrainian Peace Formula serves as the foundation of the peace …

  • Switzerland vetoes supply of heavy weapons from Germany to Ukraine

    The position of the Swiss authorities may become an unexpected obstacle for supplying heavy weapons from Germany to Ukraine. The Swiss government has vetoed  Germany’s request to ship Swiss-made ammunition used in the Marder infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) to Ukraine, the Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung reported, citing a representative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

    "SECO has received two requests from Germany for the shipment of ammunition previously produced in …

  • Switzerland slams sanctions on Putin, Mishustin and Lavrov

    Switzerland has imposed financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

    "Switzerland is also introducing the sanctions imposed earlier by the EU against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They come into force immediately," President Ignazio Cassis quoted the decision of the Swiss Federal Council.

    The Russian …

  • Germany investigates Russian Prime Minister’s son-in-law for money laundering

    The prosecutor's office of the German city of Koblenz is conducting a criminal investigation against the son-in-law of the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, businessman Alexander Udodov, who is suspected of money laundering through the German company VG Cargo, reported the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger.

    The case against Udodov, his company and other unnamed firms was brought in 2013. According to the investigation, 90 million Swiss francs, which were received as a result of tax fraud …

  • Swiss fighter jets approach Putin's delegation plane over Geneva

    The plane with the Russian delegation and Russian government media journalists was accompanied by two Swiss Air Force fighter jets over Geneva for several minutes, reports RIA Novosti.

    The Russian government delegation and journalists were on their way to cover the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron in France.

    Передовой самолёт с российской делегацией и журналистами кремлёвского пула, которые будут освещать переговоры Путина и Макрона на юге Ф …

  • Lavrov: Russia and Switzerland ended discussion on topic of espionage

    The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, at a press conference with the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis, said that Russia and Switzerland had ended their discussion on the topic of espionage in Switzerland in 2018, reports TASS news agency.

    According to the Russian Minister, in November last year, Russia gave proper guarantees on the issue of espionage. "Trying to give explanations on something what we didn't do or what we are suspected of …

  • Switzerland sends 400 tons of humanitarian aid to Donbas

    The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine sent 22 vehicles with humanitarian cargo with a total weight of more than 400 tons to the territories of the Donbas which are not under Ukraine’s control, states the message of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

    "Vehicles transported chemical reagents for water purification, salt, medical equipment, bleach and activated carbon with a total weight of almost 400 tons for residents of the Donetsk region," the report said.

    The trucks entered the …

  • Russia to dispute arbitration court verdict on Ukrnafta lawsuit

    Russia has not yet received the International Court of Arbitration’s ruling on the Ukrnafta lawsuit through the official diplomatic channels, but it plans to dispute the ruling at the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, RBC reported citing the Russian Justice Ministry.

    “The Russian Federation plans to dispute the current decision and to use all the available legal protection mechanisms provided by international law and Swiss legislation,” the ministry said in a statement.

    On 12 April, the …

  • Russia threatens to boycott Davos

    On Tuesday, during his visit to Italy, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would boycott the World Economic Forum in Davos, if the head of VTB, Andrey Kostin, co-owner of Rusal, Oleg Deripaska, and the main shareholder of the Renova group, Viktor Vekselberg, are not allowed to come to the conference.

    The Davos forum leadership’s decision, requesting Russians that are under the sanctions not to come to the conference is "very strange," said Medvedev.

    “If these …

  • Switzerland seizes Gazprom’s revenue from Nord Stream

    The gas dispute with Ukraine may cost Gazprom its profits from pumping gas through the Nord Stream pipeline, which has been operational since 2012, and through which 61 billion cubic meters of gas were pumped to Europe last year, a third of Russia’s entire gas export.

    A Swiss court has seized payments made by the pipeline operator, Swiss-registered Nord Stream AG, to Gazprom, the operator’s 51% shareholder.

    The seizure was imposed as part of the interim measures for the ruling by the …