ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland has adopted the latest round of European Union sanctions against Russia and Belarus for Moscow’s military aggression against Ukraine, the government said on Wednesday, keeping the neutral country in line with EU measures.
It also approved sanctioning a further 200 individuals and entities, including two of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters.
“Switzerland’s list of sanctions now fully mirrors that of the EU,” it said in a statement.
The amendments will come into force at 1600 GMT.
The EU on Friday formally adopted sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and on all transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB.
Switzerland deviated from the package only by omitting bans on road and sea transport to the EU, which it said were not needed due to Switzerland’s geographic location.
The Alpine country said last week it had so far frozen 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians.
Switzerland’s small neighbour Liechtenstein has also adopted EU sanctions and said last week it had frozen around 260 million Swiss francs linked to Russia.
Unlike other countries, Switzerland has not expelled any Russian diplomats in reaction to civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
($1 = 0.9346 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and Michael Shields; Editing by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi)
