Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said that his country supports the idea of confiscating frozen Russian assets. However, the country's banks are categorically opposed to such a proposal, Bloomberg reports.
According to Cassis, Switzerland has so far frozen 7.5 billion francs ($8.2 billion) in assets belonging to sanctioned Russians. However, according to Swiss law, they cannot be seized, and changing the law would require a referendum.
"We cannot just take money that doesn't belong to us simply because we think it's morally right... It's about finding the right mechanisms,," the minister emphasized.
The Bloomberg article indicates that Swiss banks have beenvery critical of the proposal to hand over frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. One of the bankers remarked that neglecting property rights would undermine Switzerland's position as a financial hub.
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