A referendum on neutrality is being held in Switzerland: support for sanctions against Russia and cooperation with NATO are at stake

A referendum on neutrality is taking place in Switzerland. At stake is support for sanctions against Russia and cooperation with NATO

Author, News Department

Place of work, BBC Russian Service

Published 5 minutes ago

Reading time: 2 min

Swiss residents will vote in a referendum on Sunday on constitutional amendments that would sharply tighten the country's concept of neutrality.

The right-wing populist Swiss People's Party proposes to establish that Switzerland can only join international sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council.

As journalists note, if the Swiss support the proposed norms, the country will have to lift its sanctions against Russia, imposed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has veto power in the UN Security Council and can block any measures directed against it.

The amendments proposed by the Swiss People's Party also suggest a refusal to cooperate closely with any military alliances - unless the country faces an immediate threat of attack.

Switzerland has largely acceded to European Union sanctions against Russia that were introduced after February 2022. The country is not a member of NATO, but maintains fairly close relations with the alliance and takes part in some of its programs.

Switzerland declared itself a neutral country back in 1815, and in 1848 it enshrined this status in the constitution. However, now the authorities can interpret the concept of neutrality quite broadly.

As the BBC correspondent in Switzerland notes, as a result, the state's neutrality has its limits: the country considered the Russian invasion of Ukraine a violation of international law and joined the EU sanctions against Moscow.

In the summer, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke out in support of tightening the concept of Swiss neutrality. In her telegram post, she noted that “Switzerland has joined two dozen packages of European Union sanctions against Russia” and “about 2,600 individuals and legal entities are under asset freeze in the country.”

Opinion polls released in mid-September show a large majority of Swiss voters oppose the amendments.

Various sociological studies show that from 68% to 63% of voters intended to vote against, and from 31 to 34% for.

As Reuters notes, citing data from the Tamedia company, supporters of tightening neutrality believe that such a measure will not allow the authorities to blur this concept and will help ensure Switzerland’s role as a mediator in resolving conflicts.

However, opponents of the amendments insist they will limit Switzerland's ability to respond to international crises and weaken its defenses.

About 25% of respondents also said that failure to impose sanctions for violations of international law would be seen as supporting the actions of aggressor countries, which would damage Switzerland's reputation.

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