Switzerland Releases CHF3 Billion Of Frozen Russia Sanctions

5/13/2022 7:46:16 AM

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) “The number of frozen assets is not an indicator for how effective sanctions are implemented,” said Erwin Bollinger of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on Thursday. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The Swiss government has confirmed that CHF6.3 billion ($6.33 billion) worth of Russian assets remain frozen under sanctions to punish Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. This represents a drop from early April as CHF3.4 billion in provisionally blocked assets have been released.

This content was published on May 13, 2022 - 09:21 May 13, 2022 - 09:21 Keystone-SDA/Reuters/sb

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Erwin Bollinger, head of the Bilateral Economic Relations Division at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), told reporters in Bern on Thursday that the current total of frozen assets now stands at CHF6.3 billion.

This represents a decrease from the CHF7.5 billion in funds the government reported frozen on April 7.

Although an additional CHF2.2 billion were blocked, CHF3.4 billion were released again after being frozen on a precautionary basis.

“The number of frozen assets is not an indicator for how effective sanctions are implemented,” Bollinger said.“The numbers can fluctuate in both directions.”

Swiss banks and asset managers can provisionally freeze funds but funds need to be released if they cannot establish that the assets are directly owned or controlled by a sanctioned individual.

Switzerland could not simply freeze funds if it did not have“sufficient grounds”, said Bollinger.

Eleven properties across Switzerland have been blocked to date, SECO said. It said it had received reports from 72 banks, companies and local authorities, without naming any of the banks or entities.

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