By Geworg Mirsajan*
(Opinion) A distinctive feature of the Russian-Western conflict over the special operation in Ukraine is the epidemic renunciation by states of their neutral status.
Initially, this was abandoned by Belarus, which supported the Russian special operation. The action of Minsk, which for years had distanced itself from Moscow’s policy in Ukraine, is partly due to Kyiv’s hostile behavior in recent years.
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However, the behavior of Sweden and Finland, which are rushing to join NATO, can hardly be rationally explained apart from pressure from the United States, which needs a diplomatic victory.
Now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia declared that another country had lost its neutral status, namely Switzerland. And in this case, too, to its own detriment.
Neutrality in international conflicts is not cowardice or charity but a profitable business. In conflicts, neutral countries take on the most critical tasks on behalf of the contending sides and earn good money.
Firstly, open diplomatic negotiations take place on their territory, placing the host country at the center of international politics for a certain period, bringing corresponding benefits.
Often there is real competition for the role of mediator. On the other hand, technical negotiations remain hidden from the public eye, promoting interaction and trust between the host country and the parties to the conflict.
In addition, various types of financial and trade flows pass through neutral countries to states under sanctions because of conflict with other countries.
This includes flows between sanctioned states and those that imposed the sanctions. And that can be a very lucrative business.
So it’s not surprising that in 2014 Alexander Lukashenko went to great lengths to make Belarus a neutral venue for negotiations to settle the Ukrainian civil war. He had prevailed over Kazakhstan.
Unsurprisingly, same Finland had had neutral status during the Cold War and had done profitable business with the USSR.
However, the most prominent guru in the neutrality business is Switzerland, which has been making money for decades. It was precisely Switzerland that had hoarded the Nazi gold.
Switzerland had hosted the exchange of spies of various kinds, including during the Cold War.
Swiss embassies usually house the “interest departments” of those countries that do not have diplomatic relations (for example, today, the Swiss represent Russian interests in Georgia and U.S. interests in Iran).
And finally, Switzerland is home to the offices of hundreds of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that prefer to work a) in the center of Europe and b) in a country where law and justice take precedence over values and ideologies.
However, Switzerland has officially changed its stance since February 2022, after coming under enormous pressure from the West to impose sanctions on Moscow, as did many other Western countries.
“Russia’s unprecedented military attack on a sovereign European country tipped the scales in the Federal Council to change its previous sanctions practice,” he said.
The defense of peace and security and respect for international law are values that Switzerland, as a democratic country, shares, and supports with its European neighbors,” the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.
Consequently, the country joined the anti-Russian sanctions and partially aligned them with the European Union’s.
Not all Swiss politicians agreed with this position. Several political actors stated that the anti-Russian sanctions violate the country’s constitution and the principle of “perpetual neutrality.”
However, the federal government disagreed. “Neutrality aims to protect Switzerland’s security and independence. The policy of neutrality offers some leeway, as it allows neutrality to be interpreted in the way that best serves this purpose,” the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said in a report.
So, in essence, Switzerland can even supply weapons to Ukraine, just as it supplies weapons to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen.
While the Swiss currently refrain from such steps, according to their own words, “the law of neutrality does not apply to the conflict in Yemen, as it is not a war between two states, but an internal conflict” – and Ukraine and Russia, as we recall, are not formally at war with each other.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has declared war on the other side.
In this situation, the Swiss see nothing objectionable about scoring political points in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict – including by mediating negotiations or diplomatic relations between the countries.
Moreover, this is still presented as a favor they can do to Moscow. “Good offices in general and mediation, in particular, are essential components of Swiss foreign policy.
Switzerland will continue to be available for such tasks. However, they are not the raison d’être of Swiss foreign policy and must not be used as a fig leaf,” reads a report by the FDFA.
“Ukraine has expressed its wish for Switzerland to represent its interests in Russia. Moreover, Switzerland makes it clear that its representation is a done deal. The relevant negotiations have been concluded. For this agreement to come into force, Russia must give its consent,” diplomats there said.
Moscow, however, said it did not need such services.
“Unfortunately, Switzerland has forfeited the status of neutrality and cannot act either as a mediator or as a stakeholder,” said Ivan Netshev, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department.
And he added that the Swiss were negotiating with Kyiv even though they were well aware of Russia’s attitude to their chances of mediation.
So, the Swiss Confederation is paying its price for refusing to be neutral in the Russian-Western conflict.
Just as the Finns and Swedes are paying the price for their refusal to be neutral, Turkey put them in a challenging and unseemly position by imposing its own conditions for NATO accession.
All that should have been done was to put pragmatism above declarative values.
*Geworg Mirsajan is an associate professor at the Finance University of the Government of the Russian Federation, a political scientist, and a public figure. Mirsajan was born in Tashkent in 1984. He graduated from Kuban State University. He earned a Ph.D. in political science focused on the United States. He was a researcher at the Institute for the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences from 2005 to 2016.
Translated from Russian
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