Switzerland has no natural resources.

And yet the small country is a giant in the world of raw materials.

Around 40 percent of global oil trading is handled by companies in Switzerland.

Trading houses from Switzerland are also by far the leaders in the purchase and sale of coffee, metals, grain, sugar, cocoa and cotton.

Glencore, a commodity giant with sales of more than $200 billion, is based in the canton of Zug.

A total of around 900 companies in Switzerland are involved in commodity trading, as determined by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Bern a year ago.

John Knight

Correspondent for politics and economy in Switzerland.

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What sounds like a cheering message from the brochure for location marketing has, at the latest since Russia's attack on Ukraine, sounded like a risk report.

Because a major focus of the business is trading in Russian oil.

Around 80 percent of this has so far been handled in Geneva.

The city on the shore of Lake Geneva has been a paradise for commodity traders from all over the world for decades.

There is not only a friendly tax climate, but above all a cohort of private banks that help dealers with loans, guarantees, security and smart financing models and then discreetly manage their assets.

Highly specialized lawyers, trustees, notaries and auditors also contribute to the symbiosis of money and oil.

Switzerland's political neutrality has also been attractive so far, especially for business people from authoritarian states such as Russia.

Half a dozen luxury jets owned by Russian oligarchs are currently stuck at Basel Airport.

Lack of transparency as a lure

Switzerland, as the Basel criminal lawyer and corruption fighter Mark Pieth puts it, is like the island of Tortuga in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean", where pirates meet to stock up on everything they need for their raids.

Gennady Timchenko is one of the Russian "pirates" who made their fortunes from Geneva.

The longtime close friend of the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin benefited from the breakup of the oil company Yukos and became an important figure in the Russian oil trade.

At the end of the 1990s, together with the Swede Torbjörn Törnquist, he founded the commodities trading company Gunvor, whose operational heart beat in Geneva.

When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Timchenko ended up on the American sanctions list.

Shortly before that, he had sold his Gunvor stake to his business partner Törnquist.

Apparently, the oligarch remained loyal to his tax-friendly adopted home of Switzerland for a longer period of time.

Through his Geneva Neva Foundation, which his wife ran,

he vied for social recognition as a patron of culture and sports.

It is only now that beneficiaries such as the Verbier Festival are distancing themselves from their patrons, although Timchenko has been considered to be to be avoided since 2014, at least from an American perspective.

The 69-year-old still owns a luxurious property in Cologny on the shores of Lake Geneva, but can no longer sell it.

The EU also put Timchenko on the sanctions list last week.

Since Switzerland followed suit, not only are his accounts frozen, but all assets are blocked.

In the Italian port city of San Remo, the police arrested his yacht "Lena", which is estimated to be worth 50 million euros.

Forbes magazine currently estimates Timchenko's fortune at $16 billion.