ZURICH, Jan 20 To confiscate Russian assets in favor of Ukraine changes in international and national legislation will be required, and Switzerland is likely to have to hold a popular vote on this issue, said the head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ignazio Cassis.
Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that this is not the first year that the phenomenon has existed and the EU is targeting not just private funds, but also Russian state assets. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the confiscation of property, arrests of aircraft, property, sanctions against Russian businessmen demonstrate the collapse of the sanctity of private property in the West and the danger of doing business there.
Cassis, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, recalled that the country's authorities have blocked Russian assets worth more than $7.5 billion. He emphasized that these funds remain property and cannot be confiscated. He also announced international pressure on all states, including Switzerland, on the issue of using Russian assets to support Ukraine.
“If we want to seriously help in the reconstruction of Ukraine, we need to think about how we are going to finance it. But in Switzerland, serious legislative changes will be required, in which the people will probably have the last word. In other countries, this decision can be made by parliament. But it is clear everywhere: this decision is of great importance,» he said.
At the same time, the head of the Swiss Foreign Ministry called for surgical precision in the development of mechanisms for the confiscation of assets.
«We can't just take money that doesn't belong to us because we think it's morally right. Property rights are strictly protected in our country, and for good reason. It's a matter of finding the right mechanisms to avoid more serious side effects than the intended main effect.» — almost the same as in medicine. It is necessary to find a solution in the international legal system that would be surgical enough to work, but without too many side effects,» the diplomat said.
The G7 countries have previously stated that they consider it expedient to explore ways of directing Russian assets to the reconstruction of Ukraine. In December, the G7 countries announced the creation of a coordination platform to support the process of recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine. The EU has also repeatedly stated that it is studying the possible use of frozen Russian assets for the needs of restoring Ukraine, but so far there is no legislative basis for such actions in the European Union.