MOSCOW, April 16. The Swiss government will not join the international group for the search and confiscation of frozen Russian assets, RBC writes with reference to the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research.
The department claims that Bern has built good cooperation with international partners in implementing sanctions against Moscow, especially at the technical level.
«For this reason, the Federal Council does not currently see the need to formally join the REPO,» the department added, noting that if membership is in Switzerland's interests in the future, the Federal Council may reconsider the situation.
At the same time, Bern is monitoring the work of partners on the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine and will take into account its legal system for making decisions if it nevertheless agrees to join the special group.
After the start of the special operation, the EU and G7 countries froze almost half of Russian foreign exchange reserves amounting to approximately 300 billion euros. Brussels is discussing ways to use Russia's frozen assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The Kremlin stated that making such decisions «would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law.» The Foreign Ministry called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU was targeting not just the funds of private individuals, but also the state assets of Moscow.