Switzerland is a landlocked country in Europe, with an area of only 41,000 square kilometers and a population of just over 8.6 million people, with less than 10 million people. With a GDP of nearly $820 billion, Switzerland ranks seventh in Europe after Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
Although the terrain is mountainous, Switzerland is a very developed country, mainly in the manufacturing and processing industry and financial services, and is famous for its Swiss army knives and watches. Switzerland declared itself a permanent neutral country as early as the 19th century, and its banking industry has won the favor of many countries for its security and customer confidentiality.
Although Switzerland is not a member of NATO or the European Union, as a Western country, Switzerland is also involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although Switzerland is a permanently neutral country, in order to mix in Western countries, Switzerland took the initiative to provide a large amount of financial assistance to Ukraine, imposed sanctions on Russia, and froze a large number of Russian assets in Switzerland, amounting to more than 10 billion US dollars.
Flag of Switzerland
Switzerland also allowed Germany to buy back the Leopard tanks it sold to Switzerland, which Germany is likely to send to Ukraine, and Switzerland is just turning a blind eye.
These actions by Switzerland clearly violate the principle of permanent neutrality and cause great losses to Switzerland.
Switzerland's insistence on following the advice of the United States and the European Union to freeze the funds of the Russian central bank and private individuals has made customers in other countries feel that the Swiss financial system is no longer safe. Many central banks have repatriated gold from Switzerland, and large numbers of private clients have withdrawn funds from the Swiss banking system.
The SNB soon lost an unprecedented $100 billion, the largest loss since the founding of Switzerland. Credit Suisse, the world's fifth-largest chaebol, also went bankrupt and was sold to other banks at a low price.
Switzerland's losses were relatively large, and after learning from the painful experience, Switzerland gradually changed its policy and began to prepare for the restoration of its status as a permanent neutral country.
Cassis
Not long ago, Swiss Foreign Minister Cassis said that he wanted to convene a peace conference on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in Switzerland, and was ready to allow Russian planes to enter Swiss airports and allow Russian officials sanctioned by Western countries to enter Switzerland.
Not only that, but Switzerland has also taken the initiative to investigate the supply of weapons to Ukraine by some domestic companies.
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency, on February 7, local time, Frances Shantz, spokesperson for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, told RIA Novosti that Switzerland is investigating whether the Swiss company "Destinus" violated the ban on not selling weapons to warring parties, and the company may have sold drones to Ukraine.
As a Western country, Switzerland is ambivalent at heart. Whether it is Finland, Sweden or Switzerland, they think they are developed countries, and they look down on non-Western countries like Russia and China in their bones.
Whether neutral or not, Switzerland and other countries will stand with Western countries, and permanent neutrality is just a cover for them to deceive the world, nothing more than to make money from other countries in peacetime. Once a major change occurs in the world, these countries will change and stand firmly with Western countries.
Western countries are the same in terms of race, religion and values, they collaborated in robberies around the world more than a hundred years ago, and today they still want to control the world's finances and economies. Therefore, at no time should you have illusions about Western countries, because the most important thing is to be strong.