Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Switzerland’s ambassador on Tuesday in response to the Swiss parliament’s acceptance of motions authorizing the government to work on a plan to confiscate and transfer Russian assets to cover Ukraine reparations.
Russia summoned Ambassador Krystyna Marty Lang to protest the barely passed Swiss motions authorizing the Swiss government to work on developing a compensation mechanism under international law for a country that was illegally attacked.
“Russia strongly condemns this step by the Swiss authorities that grossly violates the fundamental principles and norms of international law regarding state immunity,” the foreign ministry said.
“Any encroachment on Russian state property under the guise of any far-fetched ‘reparative mechanism’ would be nothing more than theft at the state level.”
The ministry said Russia would retaliate if the Swiss plan was implemented. The Swiss foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Switzerland said last year that it had frozen an estimated 7.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.81 billion) in financial assets belonging to Russians under sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
