"Russian citizens living in Switzerland continue to regularly face arbitrary treatment by local banks and postal services; their parcels disappear along the way, and operators refuse to take responsibility for this", said the Russian Ambassador to the Confederation, Sergei Garmonin, dedicated to the Day of the Diplomatic Worker, celebrated on February 10.
According to him, recently the embassy has received fewer signals from compatriots about discriminatory behavior by the Swiss authorities, but the problem of side effects of anti-Russian sanctions has remained unchanged since 2022.
"Our fellow citizens regularly face arbitrariness by local banks, which interpret anti-Russian restrictions extremely broadly. They are limited in their human contacts with friends and relatives in Russia, including due to the closure of direct flights. They cannot be sure that their parcels to their homeland with personal belongings, children's books, gifts will even arrive: shipments from Europe often disappear on the way, and postal operators refuse to bear responsibility for this“, said Garmonin.
He also noted that over the past 3 years, the Swiss cantonal authorities have been trying to surround the holding of memorial events at the Suvorov Cross in the Schöllenen Gorge and at the burial site of Soviet prisoners of war in Hörnli with numerous exaggerated restrictions. “Their goal is obvious: to reduce the number of participants in Russian ceremonies and their coverage in the media“, the ambassador explained. According to him, this will not prevent Russian diplomats and compatriots from marking Victory Day with dignity and honoring the memory of the Russian soldiers, companions of Alexander Suvorov, who died while crossing the Alps in 1799.