The Swiss are being informed that taking sides against a major power on behalf of others is a very expensive proposition when those others lose:
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian subsidiaries of Nestle, Auchan and Leroy Merlin placed under temporary management owing to Western support for Ukrainian strikes on Russian civilian and economic infrastructure.
Moscow introduced the temporary management mechanism in 2023 in response to Western companies leaving Russia and the seizure of Russian state and private assets abroad. Officials said it was intended to keep strategically important businesses operating and shield the economy from decisions by “unfriendly” countries.
On Thursday, Putin amended the 2023 decree to add the Russian assets of Nestle, Auchan and Leroy Merlin to the list. All three were transferred to L.E.V. Management, a business and management consultancy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the companies’ home countries and their support for Kiev were major factors behind the decision. “We are talking about European companies, companies from unfriendly countries,” he told journalists on Friday. “These are unfriendly countries that are actively involved in military actions against our country,” Peskov said, adding that some also support Ukrainian strikes “against our civilian economic infrastructure.”
The Swiss alarm over why they just lost a fairly significant asset as an inevitable result of their own actions would be amusing if it wasn’t so ominous for the future. There is no such thing as performative belligerence. If you attack a nation’s economy with sanctions, they will punish you for that, sooner or later.
Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, speaking on behalf of the government, said in a statement that it’s “worried” about the seizure of Nestlé’s assets. It’s working with Nestlé “toward the reversal of the compulsory administration,” it said.
Neutrality is what once made Switzerland the wealthiest country in the world. Kowtowing to the United States and the European Union has already cost them dearly and caused the failure of one of their two major banks; one hopes that the Swiss people will keep this in mind and limit the federal government’s disastrous forays into belligerence by strengthening its official neutrality structure in their upcoming vote.
As for the idea that Putin did this in order to influence the constitutional vote, there is no chance that Russia cares one way or another. This is simply a reaction to actions already committed; if the Swiss choose to engage in further foolish provocations and act like an EU puppet province, Russia will continue to treat them like an enemy. I suspect this is the real reason for the seizure:
Bern has also considered easing restrictions on the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine.
Which is really not a great idea when Ukraine has already lost the war, NATO has shown itself to be a paper tiger on multiple fronts, and BRICS is rapidly demonstrating that it, and not Clown World, is the economic entity that matters.