'Russia's Attempt To Exert Influence Did Not Go Down Well'

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Swiss voters have rejected the neutrality initiative, but what of neutrality do they want? Urs Bieri from the gfs research group explains what can – and cannot – be gleaned from the September 27 result. Select your language

Generated with artificial intelligence. Listening: 'Russia's attempt to exert influence did not go down well' This content was published on September 27, 2026 - 16:35 5 minutes

I work as editor and correspondent at the Federal Palace. I report on Swiss politics for the Swiss Abroad and manage our political talk show Let's Talk. I started in local journalism in the early nineties and have worked in many journalistic fields, held management positions and covered a range of topics. I joined SWI swissinfo in 2017.

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Deutsch de “Dass Russland Einfluss nehmen wollte, wurde nicht geschätzt” Original Read more:“Dass Russland Einfluss nehmen wollte, wurde nicht gescha Français fr ((La tentative d'ingérence de la Russie n'a pas été appréciée)) Read more: ((La tentative d'ingérence de la Russie n'a pas été appréci Italiano it “Il tentativo di influenza della Russia non è stato apprezzato” Read more:“Il tentativo di influenza della Russia non è stato apprez Русский ru ((Попытка России повлиять на голосование была воспринята негативно)) Read more: ((Попытка России повлиять на голосование была воспринята негати

SWI swissinfo: Urs Bieri, Switzerland has clearly voted against a stricter version of neutrality. But what kind of neutrality is it for?

Urs Bieri: That's the question. The population is obviously in favour of a neutrality that gives the government room for manoeuvre and allows it to take decisions on a case-by-case basis. It has clearly come out in favour of this view of neutrality – a situational view.

But the question was also whether there is a problem that would justify an alternative conception of neutrality. And here, the population's answer on Sunday was no.

SWI: There are already many interpretations of what Sunday's result means. Was it a vote against Russia?

U.B.: This is indeed a context for these discussions. And Russia also tried to exert influence on this vote. That was not appreciated – particularly by people who lived through the Cold War, and who thus developed a friend-or-foe mindset.

SWI: Can we conclude from this that the Swiss population has clear sympathies for Ukraine?

U.B.: It's difficult to draw that conclusion, but sympathies evidently lie more on this side than on the other.

SWI: What about the idea that this was a vote in favour of a more activist neutrality policy?

U.B.: I wouldn't go that far either. The result supports the position of the government, which has concluded that sanctions against Russia are right tool. That was the basis of this discussion; the population made its decision through this lens.

SWI: The Swiss People's Party and parts of the pacifist movement backed the initiative, but above all Christoph Blocher with a great deal of money. How do you interpret that?

U.B.: Indeed, Christoph Blocher made the largest recorded donation by a private individual since such figures have been openly available. Apparently, for him it wasn't just about winning a majority, but about driving a discussion that is important to him and that he wanted to lead. Looking at the result, he didn't ultimately succeed. This suggests he was led by his heart rather than his head in this case.

SWI: Did the initiative at least manage to unite People's Party's supporters behind it?

U.B.: That's something that needs to be looked at. The People's Party's potential [among voters] is currently one to two percentage points higher than the 29% who voted yes on Sunday. As said, our surveys showed the older generation was particularly irritated by Russia's meddling and voted no – this included those from the People's Party camp. And overall, the party was visibly isolated, and did not succeed in winning votes beyond its own circles.

More More Information wars Swiss democracy in the crosshairs of Russian propaganda

This content was published on Sep 27, 2026 The vote on the neutrality initiative saw open interference by Russia – as well as covert operations, Swiss authorities say.

Read more: Swiss democracy in the crosshairs of Russian propa

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