Rich Russians can no longer reach Swiss billions | Abroad

It’s not just about money in bank accounts. Various properties of rich Russians that are on the sanction list have also been seized, for example art objects or precious metal stored in the Alpine country. Although the Russian owners cannot access their property at the moment, this is not really being taken away from them. The latter would amount to confiscation and according to the authorities there is no basis for this in Swiss law.

Significantly more money in assets has been frozen in Switzerland than in the Netherlands. Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag reported to the House of Representatives earlier this week that 392 million euros had been frozen. The counter was still rising, the minister emphasized. Kaag also indicated that financial institutions can only freeze assets of sanctioned persons if the assets are housed there or their services are used.

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