Helene Budliger-Artieda, head of the Swiss State Secretariat of Economy, dismissed criticism from US Ambassador to Bern Scott Miller, who accused the office of negligence and pointed to the possibility of an additional freeze of Russian assets in $. 50-100 billion, the country’s state television and radio broadcasting channel reports. SRF.
“We are constantly telling the US and all partner countries: ‘If you have litigable leads, provide them. We will evaluate them.” To date, we have not received a single one from the Americans, ”stressed Budliger-Artieda. The official noted that the assessment of the volume of Russian assets in Switzerland was made by the ambassador without consulting the local authorities and was not official.
The head of the country’s state secretariat for the economy said that a small percentage of Russians are subject to sanctions and that the authorities will not engage in political persecution in an environment of polarization over the acceptability and necessity of sanctions. maintain impartiality.
As part of the sanctions, Swiss authorities blocked $8.1 billion in Russian assets, and another $19 billion was blocked by Credit Suesse.
March 16 Miller declarationThat Switzerland should find as many Russian assets as possible for the purposes of subsequent freezing and confiscation, in order to provide them for the subsequent restoration of Ukraine.
March 20 Swiss bank UBS requested from Russian customers to verify residency status and threatened to block accounts if data is denied or delayed.