The upper house of the Swiss parliament has voted in favour of transferring frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to Ukraine.
The upper house of parliament voted 21-19 in favour of a number of government-backed proposals, with three abstentions. The lower house passed them last year.
They pave the way for the government to create an international legal framework for using frozen assets to pay reparations to affected countries. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told parliament’s upper house:
“The facts are very clear indeed. Russia has seriously violated international law. It must therefore repair the damage caused. International discussions are under way regarding compensation mechanisms and Switzerland is participating with its knowledge, its skills and all its history in this area.”
Thursday’s vote followed a lively debate in the upper house. Concerns were raised over whether Switzerland’s image of neutrality would suffer and whether it was doing enough when there was a military conflict in Europe.
Cassis said Switzerland has provided about three billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) in aid to the affected population since the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.
The government also intends to spend about 1.5 billion Swiss francs on Ukraine and the region between 2025 and 2028. Switzerland is also planning to hold a peace conference later this year. Cassis added:
“We don’t have to blush when we talk about Ukraine on the international stage.”
Switzerland has long held a position of military neutrality. It has refused to supply weapons to Kyiv or to allow countries with Swiss-made weapons to re-export them to Ukraine. However, it has supported EU economic sanctions against Russia.
Last May, the economy ministry said Switzerland was holding 7.4 billion Swiss francs of Russian central bank reserves and assets. Switzerland has also frozen 7.5 billion Swiss francs of Russian funds and assets owned or controlled by sanctioned individuals, companies or organisations, the ministry said.
The Swiss Bankers Association estimated that Russian clients held about 150 billion Swiss francs in Swiss banks in March 2022.
