The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Swiss parliament on Tuesday voted against the country’s membership in the G7 task for on sanctions against Russia.
"By 13 votes to 10, with 1 abstention, the committee rejected a motion calling for Switzerland to join the Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs Task Force of G7. the majority considers that the technical cooperation with the task force is working satisfactorily and that there will be no additional benefit from joining," the committee said in a statement.
Switzerland has joined almost all European sanctions against Russia from February 24, 2022. Bern has blocked Russian assets worth $8.1 billion as part of the sanctions. Swiss bank Credit Suisse blocked or froze more than a third of Russian assets registered in Switzerland - 17.6 billion francs (over $19.7 billion).
Russia's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, noted that Switzerland's position on Ukraine had a negative impact on Bern's international role. The diplomat pointed out that since the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Switzerland had actually abandoned its status of a neutral country to side with Kiev and its NATO sponsors.