Swiss voters will go to the polls on September 27th to decide whether the hard-right’s bid to strengthen their country’s neutrality should be approved. Now Russia has an opinion too.
Switzerland has been neutral since 1815, having stayed out of all international conflicts, including both World Wars.
Under its terms, the country should also not get involved in any military alliances (like NATO, for example) and not impose sanctions on rogue nations.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, Switzerland has ‘softened’ its neutrality stance for, as the government said at the time, its own protection and security.
It got closer to NATO (without actually joining it) and imposed EU’s sanctions against Moscow.
READ MORE: NATO in, neutrality out: How the Ukraine invasion impacted Switzerland
In response, the sovereigntist organisation Pro Schweiz – an offshoot of the populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – has collected more than enough signatures to launch a vote aimed at better anchoring Swiss neutrality in the country’s Constitution.
“It cannot be modified easily and at will on the basis of current events,” Pro Schweiz states.
The organisation is also opposed to closer ties with NATO and wants the Constitution to expressly prohibit joining this (or any other) military alliances, except in the event of a direct attack against the country.
Additionally, Pro Schweiz seeks to restrict Swiss government’s right to impose sanctions on other nations.
The issue will play out at the ballot box – as all political matters do in Switzerland – but in the meantime, Russia has put its own two rubles (in a manner of speaking, of course) into the strictly Swiss debate.
What is Moscow saying?
The Russian Foreign Ministry is openly campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote on the neutrality initiative.
In a lengthy Telegram post, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, wrote that Swiss voters should approve the bid by the right-wingers to strengthen Switzerland’s neutrality.
The reason is simple: among the demands of the initiative’s instigators is one that would forbid Bern to impose sanctions on other nations – including on Russia.
What are Swiss politicians saying about Moscow’s stance?
It depends on who you ask.
For Gerhard Pfister, a deputy from the Centre Party, which is against the bid, “Russia’s position shows that the neutrality initiative is, in effect, a pro-Putin initiative.”
As for the initiative’s supporters, SVP’s deputy Walter Wobmann simply said that the party “has never had any contact with Russian political officials,” adding, however, that “the imposition of sanctions [against Moscow] was a mistake.”
A nest of spies
Obviously, Russia has no say in Swiss politics, and it is doubtful that voters will be swayed by its stance one way or another.
This is not to say, however, that Moscow is totally… neutral about Switzerland.
In fact, the country is a hub for Russian spies: in 2023 it was revealed that around a fifth of the total number of Moscow’s agents in Europe were based in Switzerland.
In all, some 80 agents, who operate under the guise of diplomats, were known to be in Switzerland, particularly in capital Bern, as well as Geneva, where most international organisations are located.
READ MORE: Switzerland’s security ‘threatened by Russian spies’
