War in Ukraine: the Swiss double game with sanctions on Russian coal
Audio 01:19
A Russian coal mine in Siberia in 2012 (Illustration image).
REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Is Switzerland playing a double game in the war in Ukraine?
On the one hand, the country has traded in its historical neutrality to denounce Russian aggression and join in the sanctions against Vladimir Putin's regime.
On the other, Bern would drag its feet to apply these same sanctions so as not to offend the interests of the oligarchs.
An example, that of the Russian coal trade.
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With our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémy Lanche
It is one of the smallest cantons in Switzerland.
One of the richest too.
And this wealth, Zug owes it in large part to the tax advantages it grants to the many commodity trading companies that have taken up residence there.
Some are directly in the hands of oligarchs or their front men.
Even if the authorities do not want to see it, believes Adria Budry, an investigator at
Public Eye
: "
The interpretation of the Swiss Economics Secretariat is to say:
'Be careful, these are not Russian companies, but Swiss companies. And then, for the owners, we don't really know, we haven't done the investigation, etc."
It is a lack of political will.
»
An opaque sector
According to the NGO, Switzerland negotiates 75% of Russian coal exports from its territory.
A market that will no longer be possible after August 31 and
the entry into force of the latest sanctions
.
But in a sector characterized above all by its opacity, and with authorities in no hurry to track down the oligarchs, there is no reason to say that transactions will stop overnight: "
We are still talking about a country where the Minister of the Economy, the day after the sanctions, immediately said that he did not believe in their effectiveness.
Switzerland is trying to preserve Russian interests on its territory.
At worst, she is downright complicit.
»
As for Russian oil, also largely traded from Switzerland, Swiss companies have until the end of the year to sell it.
Before the practice was also banned.
►Also read: Several NGOs denounce the massive financing of the coal industry by banks
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