“Performing an independent policy”: the Russian ambassador in Bern on the neutral status of Switzerland and anti-Russian sanctions

- At the beginning of this year, a real negotiating marathon was held in Switzerland with the participation of the Russian Federation.

Please tell me when we can expect the next Russia-US summit?

- Not only at the beginning of this year there was a marathon.

It started from last year.

On June 16, 2021, as you remember, the Russia-US summit was held, during which the heads of the two states met.

On the sidelines of the summit, our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Joe Biden also met with the President of Switzerland.

This was followed by two meetings at the level of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and US Deputy Secretary of State for Strategic Dialogue in Geneva.

In January of this year, a meeting was held in Geneva between our Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State.

So, indeed, a rather lively dialogue is taking place on the Geneva platform.

But it is still premature to talk about any new summit meeting, in my opinion.

• Russian Ambassador to Switzerland Sergey Garmonin

• © MFA Russia/via Globallookpress.com

“We see a very tense situation in Europe right now.

Attacks at the political level against Russia have become more frequent.

The Western media also switched to rather aggressive rhetoric.

How easy is it for Switzerland to maintain its neutral status in this situation?

— You should probably ask the Swiss themselves about this.

As for our opinion, we expect the Confederation to remain neutral.

Eternal neutrality is officially enshrined in the Swiss constitution following the results of the Vienna Congress of 1815.

With the assistance of Russia, this principle was included in the Swiss constitution.

Switzerland is a good independent broker in many international conflict situations.

It is known that she represents our interests in Georgia, and Georgian interests in Moscow.

There is also Swiss mediation in a number of other conflict situations.

Under this brand name of Swiss neutrality, Switzerland will obviously go to the June elections to the UN, where it claims to be a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2023-2024.

— But, despite this special status, Switzerland still joined the anti-Russian sanctions.

Neutrality turns out to be very selective, don't you think?

- Bern positions its sanctions under a specific sauce.

Allegedly, this is to prevent circumvention of the sanctions regime from the territory of Switzerland.

Although it is quite clear that this is from the evil one.

For our part, we explain to our Swiss partners that, from the point of view of international law, sanctions are imposed only by the decision of the UN Security Council, and not by the decision of the EU, which went ... on the lead of its Russophobic minority.

But, as both our minister (Foreign Affairs. -

) and our president have said more than once, we have not imposed sanctions and we do not intend to ask anyone to lift sanctions.

• Russian Ambassador to Switzerland Sergei Garmonin on sanctions against Russia

- If we talk about Russian-Swiss relations, how would you characterize Bern - is it our ally, opponent or our business partner in Europe?

— I would characterize Switzerland as a kind and reliable partner.

If we take statistics for recent years, how many countries that were considered friendly to us have expelled Russian diplomats?

Almost all former socialist countries, the so-called socialist community, the Czech Republic, Poland, not to mention the Baltic states, have repeatedly expelled our diplomats under far-fetched pretexts.

Fortunately, Switzerland did not succumb to the well-known pressure from many Western countries in the Skripal case, and in a number of other cases did not go for outright anti-Russian demarches.

I have repeatedly told our Swiss friends and partners that Switzerland has so far managed to pursue an independent foreign policy, despite strong pressure from well-known forces.

— We see that Switzerland shares the Russian point of view that the OSCE should play a more active role in resolving the Ukrainian conflict.

To what extent can Switzerland influence European circles, the European establishment, so that the OSCE becomes more active on this front?

— It seems to me that our Swiss partners and friends have somewhat overestimated expectations and a certain romanticism regarding the OSCE.

Recent events show that from the rostrum of the OSCE, let's say, objective assessments of the events in Ukraine and the need to comply with the Minsk agreements are becoming less and less common.

The arrival of the OSCE Foreign Minister of Poland, who in the near future ... should visit Ukraine, but does not plan to visit either Donetsk or Lugansk, at a time when Poland, along with other NATO member countries led by the United States, saturates, literally fills Ukraine with a lethal weapon, this may indicate that assistance to one of the participants in the conflict in Ukraine and ignoring the interests of the other can hardly lead to the speedy settlement of this really acute conflict, the internal conflict in Ukraine.

• Russian Ambassador Sergei Garmonin on the role of the OSCE in resolving the crisis in Ukraine

You have probably seen the pressure RT DE is under in Germany.

Bank accounts are blocked, broadcasting is blocked.

How is RT DE viewed in Switzerland and Austria?

Is it respected by the media or is there also skepticism?

- I can say that the latest events related to both RT DE and the closure of the Deutsche Welle office in Russia were reflected in the pages of local newspapers.

And in NZZ, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and in a number of other publications.

And we can judge the reaction to this only by publications on the Internet.

Even the assistants made a special selection for me with comments from Swiss users regarding these recent events.

Here is a certain Andreas Arregar writes, I quote: “Germany has once again put itself in an unprecedented awkward position.

First she banned RT Deutsche, reporting and broadcasting, and then became upset when the state company Deutsche Welle, which is paid, controlled by the German state, is sanctioned.

The issue is very simple: Germany would lift its arbitrary ban on RT Deutsche, and then Russian sanctions would be lifted as well.

But the German government will not compromise.

The broadcaster RT Deutsche, which Germany cannot influence, has always been a thorn in the side of the elites in Berlin with its reports critical of the government.

• The building of the Russian Embassy in Bern

• © Wikimedia

And here is a whole selection of such statements from the Swiss audience.

Patrick Bachman writes: “That's fair.

Germany prides itself on being a model of democracy… But other opinions are rejected in a dictatorship style.

What goes around comes around".

This is to the latest events related to the closure of RT DE and Deutsche Welle in Russia.

“It's nice to hear that Switzerland is still pragmatic.

- Opinions are divided.

But this is the part that realistically assesses the latest developments in the field of broadcasting.

- Germany blocks broadcasting, it turns out, for the entire German-speaking region - Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

And thus, in fact, he is fighting for his monopoly on the German language.

Doesn't that cause irritation in Switzerland?

- Fortunately, today we decided to check, and my assistants showed me today that RT broadcasting on the Internet is not blocked here, there are no obstacles for this, and you can receive information from RT DE on channels.

— How are economic relations between Switzerland and Russia developing, given that these are difficult times, there is a lot of talk about sanctions?

— In November last year, we held the 21st meeting of the Russian-Swiss intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

During the work of this commission, it was stated that our trade and economic relations are gradually reaching the level before the pandemic.

Therefore, although the pandemic has, of course, caused damage to trade not only with Russia, but also with many other countries, we are now on the rise in bilateral trade and economic relations.

— How important is the Russian market for the Swiss in general?

How actively do they invest in our economy?

— About 250 Swiss companies operate in Russia.

There are very few big ones here.

You know that more than 90% are small and medium enterprises in Switzerland.

But large firms from Switzerland also have their own representative offices and work in Russia.

This is Novartis and some others.

• Berne

• Legion Media

Five representatives of the largest corporations in Switzerland are members of the Foreign Investment Council under the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

There are about $14.7 billion of Swiss investments in Russia, and our investments in Switzerland are slightly more — about $22 billion.

— We see that the political elites of Europe have been skeptical towards Russia lately.

And how do ordinary citizens of Switzerland perceive the image of Russia?

The Swiss are traditionally tolerant both religiously and linguistically.

And the image of Russia does not evoke the same reaction in them as in some other countries where brainwashing is carried out quite effectively by the Western media...

Although lately we have been seeing more and more frankly fake, deceitful articles on the pages of the Swiss press that go in line with the mainstream of Western propaganda.

When particularly outrageous fake news is published in the press, we have to fight back.

We send our press releases to the editorial offices of these newspapers, publish our opinion on certain events and articles on the embassy websites, on Twitter, and in other sources.

- Since competitors work this way, then, I hope, in Switzerland there will be a demand for information from RT DE.

She is really in demand.

Because it always hurts when a viewer or listener has purely one-sided information and cannot draw conclusions on the basis of comparing information from various sources.

This, of course, impoverishes the possibilities of objective perception of reality.