EDA wants to intervene with the Russian ambassador because of a threat

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bern wants to intervene with the Russian ambassador. It is unacceptable that the Russian embassy has threatened a “NZZ” journalist with legal action in Russia.

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) announced via the short message service Twitter on Wednesday evening that the Russian ambassador would have been “unmistakably informed”. Whether the ambassador will be summoned or whether this will be done in writing is still open, the EDA said when asked.

The background is a message from the Russian embassy in Switzerland about an article in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” (NZZ). It names the author and refers to the criminal provisions, including the penalty, that could be applied to his statements in Russia. Accordingly, the journalist risks a fine, hard labor or several years in prison.

“Inventions and Rumors”

The article criticized by the Russian embassy included the resistance in the city of Melitopol in the southeastern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia. “Relatively peaceful guerrilla actions include women from the city handing out laxative-coated pastries to Russian soldiers,” it says, for example.

The statement from the Russian embassy said the vocabulary used in the article was intended to justify terrorism. In addition, the author would take on “the most ridiculous inventions and rumors”, such as the patisserie episode. (sda)