Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

UKRAINE

Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 declared insolvent due to Russia sanctions

Nord Stream 2, based in the Swiss canton of Zug, has gone belly-up after Germany halted the gas pipeline following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Published: 1 March 2022 20:05 CET

Nord Stream parent company Gazprom. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)

Berlin halted the project, built to bring Russian gas to Europe, as Moscow faced sanctions from the West.

READ MORE: How Europe reacted to Switzerland’s historic sanctions announcement

“Nord Stream became insolvent because of last week’s US sanctions,” Silvia Thalmann-Gut, economics director in the Swiss canton of Zug where the company is based, told public broadcaster SRF.

She said the regional authorities had been informed Tuesday that the company had filed for bankruptcy and its entire workforce of 106 people had been laid off.

The United States and Germany announced last week that they were imposing sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

UPDATE: How Switzerland could be impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The targeting of Nord Stream 2 — one of energy-rich Russia’s highest-profile geo-strategic initiatives — did not however prevent Moscow from launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The pipeline’s project company — Nord Stream 2 AG — is based in Zug, and wholly owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom.

A number of other Russian firms have their headquarters in Zug, and Thalmann-Gut acknowledged that more bankruptcies might follow as the massive sanctions heaped on Russia over its invasion begin to bite.

Traditionally neutral Switzerland, which initially hesitated to impose its own sanctions on Russia, announced Monday that it would follow the European Union’s lead and apply all of the same stiff penalties the bloc has imposed so far.

READ MORE: Switzerland to impose sanctions on Russia

The Swiss sanctions “have not yet played a role, so I cannot rule out that other companies will be affected,” Thalmann-Gut said.

Asked if this would affect the wealthy canton’s tax revenues, she said “it will undoubtedly have an impact”.

“Very powerful companies are now affected.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Swiss pull out the stops for Ukraine summit security

With dozens of heads of state and government flying in for the gathering at the swanky Burgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, up to 4,000 troops are being deployed and a ring of steel has been put in place.

Around 6.5 kilometres of fencing and eight kilometres of barbed wire is going up, while the valley behind the exclusive hotel complex has been turned into a temporary military heliport.

“An event on this scale requires comprehensive protective measures,” Swiss President Viola Amherd said ahead of the summit.

High on a mountain ridge, surrounded by water on three sides, the Burgenstock is relatively straightforward to seal off.

More than 400 local residents with homes and farms beyond the checkpoint need a special pass to access the “red zone”.

Despite the event’s international importance, security responsibility falls to the tiny rural canton of Nidwalden.

The fifth-smallest of Switzerland’s 26 cantons in terms of both size and population, Nidwalden has just 45,000 residents.

Mud and helicopters

The military will protect infrastructure, provide air transport and reconnaissance, conduct surveillance and interventions on the lake, and offer logistics and command support.

Soldiers have for days been taking position on the winding turns on the road up to the Burgenstock.
Overlooked by cattle with their cowbells clanging, the heliport was built with metal trackway on a squelching field.

Big enough to accommodate five helicopters, it is surrounded by a double layer of steel fencing and barbed wire.

“The army has the ability to set up a temporary take-off and landing zone anywhere in the country,” said Major General Daniel Keller, commander of the Swiss army’s Territorial Division 2, which encompasses Nidwalden.

“The foreign ministry decides which people fly from here and to here. The army provides the infrastructure,” he told reporters this week.

He said the armed forces were accustomed to maintaining air sovereignty.

“Federal law clearly alludes to the possibility of shooting down an aircraft,” he said, while remaining tight-lipped on potential threats such as drones.

“I am tense but I’m confident we can master this.”

The Swiss intelligence services will also work to identify and prevent threats.

Mindful of potential nuclear, biological and chemical threats, specialists will intensify the monitoring of radioactive emission levels in the area, authorities said.

Cyberattacks, ‘extreme’ misinformation

Besides potential physical threats, Switzerland is also dealing with attacks in cyberspace and a deluge of misinformation surrounding the event.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, is not attending the summit.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said there was “an obvious interest in disturbing the smooth running of the conference”.

He said there had been an increase in misinformation, including “hysterical broadcasts or offensive broadcasts, even as far as fake news”.

Amherd said the misinformation was “so extreme it’s clear that very little of this information is in line with reality”.

A first wave of distributed denial-of-service attacks on government websites and organisations involved in the summit began on Thursday.

DDoS attacks make websites or network resources unavailable by flooding them with malicious traffic.

“The attacks were expected and are presumed to be in connection with the summit. They resulted in minor outages,” said the National Cyber Security Centre.

It has set up an emergency centre for technical analyses and a communications platform for reporting “cyber-threat developments” during the summit.

Url copied to clipboard!