GENEVA, March 7. /TASS/. The upper house of Swiss parliament has voted 21-19 with three abstentions to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
According to the parliament press service, the decision was initiated by all parliamentary groups with the exception of the country’s largest political force, the right-wing conservative People’s Party which is part of the coalition government.
"The assets of the Russian state and associated organizations, frozen within the framework of sanctions, should be available for transfer to Ukraine as reparations," lawmakers said. They called on the Federal Council to "take measures on developing the necessary legal basis at the international level."
The press service stressed that "as opposed to the Swiss People’s Party, there was no unity among other political parties" during the vote. It emphasized that "the senators diverged in their interpretation of the issue of observing international law as well as of Switzerland’s reputation in this regard."