Russian-Swiss relations

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Russian-Swiss relations
Location of Switzerland and Russia
SwitzerlandSwitzerland RussiaRussia
Switzerland Russia
The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler who works in Russia (Soviet postage stamp)
Memorial plaque in Basel for the meeting of Tsar Alexander I with Pestalozzi
Suvorov monument in the Schöllenen

The Russian-Swiss relations are made at the diplomatic level since 1814, when Tsar Alexander I for the first time an emissary in the Federal Diet appointed.

history

From the late 17th century to 1917 wandered over 20,000 Swiss economic refugees into the Russian Empire from. The Geneva François Le Fort , after the Moscow district of Lefortovo is named, played a leading role in building the Russian Navy .

After the October Revolution , a Soviet Russian mission was set up in Bern in May 1918 . But as early as November 1918, the day before the outbreak of the national strike , the diplomats were expelled for "activities of a revolutionary nature". After the Conradi affair in 1923, relations were completely discontinued by the Soviet Union .

Switzerland's request in 1944 to resume diplomatic relations was rejected by the Soviets. Diplomatic relations were only resumed in 1946.

As a protecting power, Switzerland has represented Russian interests in Georgia and Georgian interests in Russia since 2009 after these two countries broke off diplomatic relations after the Georgian war .

In 2018, a diplomatic crisis developed between the two countries in connection with Russian intelligence operations in Switzerland. In spring 2018, the Russian Ambassador was summoned by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs , which also analyzed samples in the Skripal case, in connection with espionage against the World Anti-Doping Agency and against the Spiez Laboratory . The ambassador was convened again in September 2018 after indications had accumulated that Russian espionage activity in Switzerland had increased significantly. When the Russian ambassador was called for the third time, Switzerland asked Russia to cease its espionage activities on Swiss territory. The Federal Council had already warned in March 2018 that there was a well-founded suspicion in one country that “more than a quarter of the diplomatic staff is active in the intelligence service.” Later it became public that this was referring to Russia and the Federal Intelligence Service (NBD) itself since then focused on Russia. According to Russian information, only three diplomats are active as agents in Switzerland. According to the NBD, however, dozens of official Russian state representatives work as spies. Some had already been noticed at earlier stages in their diplomatic career through intelligence activity, others only in Switzerland.

See also

literature

  • Peter Collmer: Switzerland and the Russian Empire 1848-1919. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2004.
  • Christine Gehrig-Straube: Unrelated Times. The Swiss-Soviet relationship between breaking off and resuming relations (1918–1946) based on Swiss files. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 1997.
  • Michail Schischkin : Russkaja Švejcarija. Pano Verlag, Zurich 2001 ( Russian Switzerland. A literary-historical travel guide. Limmat-Verlag, Zurich 2003).

Web links

Commons : Russian-Swiss relations  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diplomatic documents of Switzerland: e-Dossier - Switzerland and the Russian Revolution
  2. ↑ Peter Collmer: Switzerland and Russia - a relationship that was at times strained. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 16, 2008.
  3. ↑ The Soviet Union gives Switzerland the cold shoulder. National-Zeitung, December 6, 1944, p. 1.
  4. ^ Diplomatic documents of Switzerland: e-Dossier - The establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR
  5. ^ Diplomatic crisis due to Russian espionage . In: Tages-Anzeiger , September 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ Ambassador summoned: Switzerland demands a stop of Russian espionage activities . In: SRF , September 16, 2018.
  7. ↑ Milan Schreuer: Russians Planned Attack on Lab Testing Salisbury Nerve Agent, Swiss Say. In: The New York Times , September 14, 2018.