Russia-U

By Olivier Caslin
Posted on Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Faced with rising commodity prices that have accompanied the war in Ukraine, international traders, most of whom are based on the shores of Lake Geneva, are urgently reorganising their supply chain, with a particular focus on Africa.

By deciding on 29 February to align itself with Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, thus placing its sacrosanct neutrality on hold, the Swiss Confederation made a decision the Swiss press described as “historic”.

In 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Bern had draped itself in this same neutrality and its tradition of “good offices” in order to refrain from sanctioning oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin, following in the footsteps of the US and the EU.

But a Geneva editorialist says the situation is different this time around: “The Federal Council had no other choice this time, given the pressure exerted from all sides, from outside and inside the country.”