The Swiss federal government has decided on 28 February that it will follow in the footsteps of the EU and impose the same package of sanctions.

The sanctions will include freezing the assets of Vladimir Putin and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov. Oligarchs will also be banned from travelling to the country. 

By adopting these measures, the country breaks with its policy of neutrality that was signed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.  The President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis declared that this was ‘a very significant measure taken by Switzerland’ and that the Federal Council ‘made this step with conviction and in a thoughtful and unequivocal manner’.

With Switzerland already housing large amounts of Russian wealth, many worried that the country would become the ideal escape route for Russians looking to protect their money. At the end of the third quarter last year, Russian deposits in Swiss financial institutions amounted to the equivalent of nearly $11 billion according to the Bank of International Settlements. This represented nearly 30 per cent of total Russian deposits overseas.