The G7 has privately chided Switzerland for not doing enough to tackle sanctions-evading Russian oligarchs. This is reported by The Financial Times with reference to a letter signed by the G7 ambassadors in Bern on behalf of the group and the EU ambassador.
A letter sent to the Swiss government says that Swiss privacy laws and other loopholes are being used by the Russians to hide billions of francs in offshore assets.
Switzerland, which is officially neutral, like other EU countries, imposed economic sanctions against Russia after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. According to the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), Russian assets worth $7.5 billion have been frozen. But G7 ambassadors question that figure. “Independent sources believe the total amount held in Switzerland could be significantly higher,” they wrote.
The authors of the letter thanked Switzerland for not turning the country into a "safe haven" for Russian money, but added that more work was needed to enforce the sanctions regime.
On April 13, RBC, citing two lawyers and a source in the Swiss banking sector, reported that Swiss banks were going to close the accounts of Russians.
According to the Swiss Banking Association, the country has assets of Russians in the amount of 150 to 200 billion Swiss francs. As of November 2022, Switzerland has frozen Russian assets worth 7.5 billion francs. Recently, the G7 countries and the United States in particular have been demanding that the country more actively freeze funds in the accounts of Russian oligarchs.
