Switzerland considering possibility of using Russian assets for reparations to Ukraine

14:39 08.03.2024 Swiss lawmakers on Thursday backed steps aimed at allowing the use of frozen Russian state assets to finance war reparations to Ukraine, France 24 reports. “The upper house of parliament voted by 21-19 in favor of a series of government-backed motions, with three abstentions. The lower house passed them last year. They pave the way for the government to work on an international legal basis for using frozen aggressor-state assets to pay for reparations in attacked countries. More than $8 billion in Russian central bank reserves and assets are held in Switzerland,” the report says. “The facts are very clear indeed. Russia has seriously violated international law. It must therefore repair the damage caused. International discussions are under way regarding compensation mechanisms and Switzerland is participating with its knowledge, its skills and all its history in this area,” Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told parliament’s upper house. “Bern will now seek to establish the international legal basis needed for a reparations mechanism to be developed at the global level. It would be aimed at allowing frozen funds from an aggressor’s central bank, or assets of its state-owned companies, to be legally transferred to an attacked state,” the report reads....