Swiss Neutrality Bends Where Convenient — Russia’s Zakharova
A Swiss national flag waves on a building in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Swiss neutrality bends exactly where it is convenient, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, adding that in the 1940s it leaned toward Berlin, while today it bends toward Kiev and Brussels. Citing the Swiss foreign ministry, Zakharova said that on September 27, Switzerland will hold a vote on a «neutrality initiative» proposing to enshrine «permanent and armed neutrality» in the constitution and ban imposing sanctions on warring parties. The government and parliament recommend voting against it. «This is what Swiss ‘flexible neutrality,’ than is now being promoted in Bern, is all about. It bends exactly where it is convenient and to the extent it is convenient. In the 1940s, it bent toward Berlin, because that was where the gold and the market were. Today, it bends toward Kiev and Brussels,» Zakharova wrote on Telegram. She added that a year and a half ago she had said that Switzerland had de facto ceased to be a neutral country, a statement that sparked indignation among the audience. «The government, which for four centuries built its statehood on neutrality and accumulated its wealth under that banner, now explains to citizens that enshrining this principle in the constitution is impossible because it would have to be observed,» Zakharova said. She added that the Swiss government opposes enshrining neutrality in the constitution precisely because it would then have to be upheld. Yet Bern forgot about this the moment it began taking in trainloads of Reichsbank gold in the last century.
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