GENEVA, March 18, 22:35 /ITAR-TASS/. Switzerland is not planning to automatically repeat the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States against Russia, Swiss Confederation President Didier Burkhalter said in an interview with the Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
“We will take a time-out and will not act exactly the same way as the ‘X’ or the ‘Y’ alliance has acted. Switzerland is neither the EU nor the United States,” the president said, adding that Bern intended to “act impartially and maintain trust in a long-term prospect”.
Didier Burkhalter said Switzerland must be “doubly unbiased” as this year Switzerland held the presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“Switzerland has good relations with China, the US, Russia and the EU,” he said, adding that Switzerland could be useful “as a mediator in such situations”.
After the 2008 South Ossetia war, Switzerland has been representing Russia’s interests in Georgia and Georgia’s interests in Russia.