As of the end of 2023, 5.8 billion Swiss francs ($6.36 billion) of Russian assets were blocked in Swiss bank accounts, the Swiss government said. However, a year ago, at the end of 2022, there were 7.5 billion francs in these accounts, Komersant ukrainskyi reported.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) explained that the reason for these discrepancies in the figures was the decline in the market value of shares and other blocked financial assets.
At the same time, Switzerland has blocked only a very small part of Russian assets. The Swiss Bankers Association estimates that in 2022, Swiss banks held another 150 billion francs in assets owned by Russians. However, Switzerland believes that only assets with a direct and obvious connection to the Russian state should be blocked, so no one touches these funds.
SECO also reported that 1,703 Russian individuals and 421 companies are currently being blocked in Switzerland.
According to Swiss data, after the full-scale Russian invasion, Switzerland supported Ukraine with approximately three billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion). Switzerland is going to spend another 1.5 billion francs on Ukraine in the period from 2025 to 2028.
Switzerland has not only refused to sell weapons to Ukraine, but has also banned third countries from selling weapons made or purchased in Switzerland.
However, the Swiss parliament recently allowed the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.