Switzerland approves of the Wagners, but leaves Prigozhin’s close confidants undisturbed

On Thursday, the Federal Council placed the Wagner group on Switzerland’s sanctions list against Ukraine. The notorious group of mercenaries is active not only in Ukraine, but also in armed conflicts around the world. Its members are accused of various war crimes and atrocities, such as the spring 2022 massacres in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.

That Switzerland has not yet imposed sanctions on the Wagner group seems paradoxical. After all, the EU, whose sanctions against Ukraine have been almost completely taken over by Switzerland, already sanctioned the mercenary force in December 2021.

At the time, however, the EU listed the group in its global sanctions regime for serious human rights violations. Switzerland considers this sanctions regulation as a “thematic sanctions regime” which it will not adopt. On the other hand, Switzerland normally adopts the EU’s “geographical sanctions regime” in relation to a specific conflict – including in relation to the war in Ukraine.

This distinction repeatedly applied by the Federal Council has absurd and difficult to understand consequences. Only because the EU has put Wagner’s mercenaries on Ukraine’s sanctions list can Switzerland also punish them. However, Switzerland is still unable to sanction six high-ranking representatives of Wagner and close confidants of boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who put the EU on its human rights sanctions list in February. You’re on the “wrong” list.

However, the Federal Council was able to approve the measures against individuals, companies and authorities in Russia and the Russian-occupied territories that the EU had decided on the same day under the sanctions regime for Ukraine.

Hesitant for fear of China

For a long time, the Bundesrat treated the dossier of thematic EU sanctions like a hot potato. Since the summer of 2021, he has had the administration draw up a discussion paper on the pros and cons of taking such sanctions.

The file has already been discussed twice in the meeting of the Federal Council, most recently in December 2022. At that time, after a “comprehensive consideration”, the state government instructed the Department of Economy, Foreign Affairs and Justice to “examine the existing legal bases “. even closer”.

According to the responsible State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), the results of these studies are now available and the Federal Council has been informed. Seco cannot comment on the next steps. It only shows that the Bundesrat wants to keep open the option “in the future, if necessary, in certain very specific cases that are not covered by current practice, selectively and specifically adopting EU sanctions”.

Behind the cryptic formulation hides a first directional decision of the Federal Council in the sensitive file. Until now he had avoided such a move – according to critics out of fear of China.

The Background: In 2021, the EU imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for serious human rights violations against the Uyghur minority. If Switzerland approves these measures, there is a risk that relations with China will deteriorate, Beijing’s ambassador to Bern warned in an interview last fall.

Now, after much hesitation, the Federal Council has apparently opened the door for the selective adoption of “thematic” EU sanctions. It is likely that this will happen in those individual cases where the non-acceptance cannot be substantively justified. For example, when the EU lists someone under its human rights sanctions regime who has committed a crime in the context of a conflict in which Switzerland has already adopted other sanctions. This was the case, for example, with a Wagner mercenary who beheaded a man in Syria.

With such a selective practice, the Federal Council could still evade an uncomfortable decision: whether or not to take on Beijing for human rights violations against the Uyghurs. (aargauerzeitung.ch)