Russia is looking for 10 Swiss people who have been looking for shelter for a year: “We have no more claims. We’ll take it all!”

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs is looking for almost 97,000 people. About 31,000 of them are Russian citizens, more than 11,000 Armenians and 10,000 of the wanted persons are from Uzbekistan. This was reported by the Russian opposition media Mediazona.

In addition, Ukrainian soldiers and soldiers of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the list. But that’s not all: the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs also lists 160 Eastern European politicians, parliamentarians and civil servants. The best-known names include Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Estonian State Secretary Taimar Peterkop and Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys.

In addition to these high-ranking politicians, ten Swiss are also among the wanted persons. What should you do to get the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to look for you? The “Tages-Anzeiger” investigated this question.

From multi-millionaire to sniper

According to Mediazona, publicly available court records show that many people are wanted for criminal activity. However, for political reasons, approximately 800 people were clearly included on this list. For some Swiss, the “Tages-Anzeiger” was able to find out how they ended up on the wanted list.

Andreas Zivy, for example, is chairman of the board of directors of Ameropa, one of the ten largest agro-dealers in the world, with 2,600 employees in 30 countries. The company produces and trades grain and fertilizers. In 2017, turnover amounted to almost 6 billion francs. In 2018, Zivy reached the list of the 300 richest people in Switzerland in the “Balance”.

Zivy and a manager from his company also ended up on the Russian government’s blacklist. Reason: A takeover battle for a Russian ammonia producer. According to his own statements, Zivy was expropriated in Russia illegally and through arbitrary persecution.

“Mr. Zivy is not surprised that his name appears on this list,” a company spokesperson told Tages-Anzeiger. However, it is unknown how long this listing has existed. Russia announced an international manhunt for Zivy through Interpol about nine years ago. This was annulled by the International Police Organization as it was classified as primarily politically motivated.

Avi Motola also appears on the list, albeit only under his first name, Avi Doron. However, according to the Tages-Anzeiger, Russian information about Avi Doron’s date of birth and origin corresponds to Avi Motola’s information.

Motola has been working as a ‘sniper’ for an elite Ukrainian unit since March 2022. He currently still works for the Ukrainian army. However, it is unclear in what position. Motola grew up in the canton of Schaffhausen and completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. He subsequently lived in Israel for many years. Watson is already reporting on him. Motola is not only wanted by the Russians: under Swiss law, he is also prosecuted for “foreign military service” under military criminal law.

The list also includes a travel agency owner in the canton of St. Gallen and an IT entrepreneur from Aargau. (jub)