Switzerland said confiscating frozen Russian assets and providing them for the reconstruction of Ukraine would go against the constitution, in a move likely to be welcomed by the country’s banks.
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland said confiscating frozen Russian assets and providing them for the reconstruction of Ukraine would go against the constitution, in a move likely to be welcomed by the country’s banks.
A working group led by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice concluded that the “confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Federal Constitution and the prevailing legal order,” the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Support for Ukraine will continue, it said, regardless of this conclusion.
The Swiss have frozen about 7.5 billion francs ($8.1 billion) in assets from sanctioned Russians — a fraction of the 150 billion francs of total Russian assets estimated to be in the country. Any change in the law to allow for those assets to be confiscated would require a referendum, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said last month.
Read more: Swiss Minister Signals Support Using Russian Assets for Ukraine
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