INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Switzerland said Thursday that it has to date frozen a total of 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.9 billion) in Russian assets, in connection
with the sanctions imposed over Moscow's war in Ukraine.The amount, which has been fluctuating for months, is nearly 1 billion francs more
than the figure provided by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in July.Switzerland, a favored destination for wealthy
Russians and their assets, has also seen 15 Russian properties seized, it said.Erwin Bollinger, in charge of bilateral economic relations at
SECO, stressed to reporters that the amount frozen at any given time does not necessarily "reflect the efficacy of the sanctions."That is
because Swiss authorities seeking to implement the string of sanctions on Russia sometimes freeze assets as a precautionary measure, which
may be released again once clarifications have been completed.Traditionally neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded
24 to align itself with the neighboring European Union's sanctions against Moscow, obliging banks to pass on information on clients or
firms targeted.As with their EU counterparts, Swiss banks are banned from accepting deposits from Russian nationals or people or entities
based in Russia of more than 100,000 francs and have been ordered to declare all existing deposits over that amount.In all, 46.1 billion
francs in such deposits have been reported, but SECO stressed that this could "not be equated with the total amount of funds of Russian
origin held in Switzerland."
