Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis signalled his country’s support for the idea of confiscating frozen Russian assets and using them for the reconstruction of Ukraine, putting him on a collision course with the country’s banks who hate the proposal.
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis signalled his country’s support for the idea of confiscating frozen Russian assets and using them for the reconstruction of Ukraine, putting him on a collision course with the country’s banks who hate the proposal.
“If we are serious about helping to rebuild Ukraine, we need to think about how we’re going to finance that,” Cassis told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. Authorities in a number of countries are discussing such a step, he said, “but this must be done correctly under the rule of law.”
Currently, the 7.5 billion francs ($8.2 billion) in assets Switzerland has frozen from sanctioned Russians — a fraction of the 150 billion francs of total Russian assets estimated to be in the country — can’t be confiscated, Cassis said. Changing this law would likely require a referendum.
Canada has started the process of using the proceeds from seized assets to help reconstruct Ukraine and compensate victims of the war. Cassis said internationally there appears to be a “great common political will,” but added that such actions are complicated.
“We cannot just take money that doesn’t belong to us just because we think this is morally right,” Cassis said. “The right to property is fundamental.”
Swiss Banks
Swiss banks have been very critical of the proposal. Disregarding property rights in this way would undermine Switzerland’s position as a financial center, newspaper NZZ cited an unidentified banker as saying. Another called it the “death penalty” for Swiss banking.
Already the Swiss government’s decision to embrace European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been strongly criticized by some for sacrificing historic neutrality.
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