Russia considers that Switzerland has moved away from its status as a neutral country by supporting Ukraine, thus creating an “unfriendly attitude”. Therefore, Moscow stated that it will configure its relations with the country based on these understandings, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned this Tuesday (23).
Russian diplomacy reported a meeting in New York between the country's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and the head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis. “The Russian side expressed its assessments regarding Switzerland's departure from the principles of neutrality and Bern's uncritical support for Kiev. These actions, along with the hostile policy towards Russia, are taken into account in the formation of the Russian line (of action). towards Switzerland,” Lavrov said.
Furthermore, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov and Cassis “discussed a number of practical issues taking into account Switzerland's participation as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
In mid-January, Swiss President Viola Amherd made clear to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Bern's willingness to continue supporting Kiev as the war with Russia enters its third year.
Zelensky thanked this support and assured that, despite Switzerland's traditional neutrality – which prevented Bern from exporting weapons to Kiev during the conflict – “in these two years it was not indifferent to the Ukrainian suffering, as it provided valuable humanitarian aid”.
Amherd stated, in this sense, that Switzerland intends to continue supporting Ukraine in a second phase, between 2025 and 2028, with 1.5 billion Swiss francs (R$8.5 billion) for the country's reconstruction. She also mentioned an additional amount of 100 million Swiss francs (R$572.7 million) for landmine deactivation operations in Ukraine.
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