A sharp deviation
Switzerland will adopt all the sanctions that the European Union has imposed on Russian people and companies and freeze their assets to punish the invasion of Ukraine, the government said in a sharp deviation from the country’s traditional neutrality.
“We are in an extraordinary situation where extraordinary measures could be decided,” President and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a news conference in Bern on Monday, flanked by the finance, defence and justice ministers.
What a beautifully Swiss name. Italian and French, plus it means black currant aperitif.
Switzerland also adopted financial sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, effective immediately, and closed its airspace to most Russian aircraft.
Switzerland has steered clear of imposing sanctions in a string of crises, including when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
But now Russia is invading and pummeling the whole damn country.
The EU’s head diplomat, Josep Borrell, welcomed the move and said it was “good news” that transferring money to Switzerland would no longer help Russian oligarchs.
…
[T]he government faced growing pressure from the EU, the United States and thousands of protesters who marched in Bern on Saturday calling for it to side clearly with the West against Moscow.
Well done protesters.
I don’t know where Mr. Cassis comes from exactly in Switzerland, but I understand that the German form of his name has been out of use for some time, given that a traditional shortened form for Ignaz was Nazi. For a Spaniard, in a country full of Ignacios and with a good number of Adolfos, this is worth noticing.
Anyway, good for the Swiss!
Interesting!
What Ignaz makes me think of is an old newspaper cartoon by George Herriman that starred Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse.