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UKRAINE

Ukraine’s Zelensky blasts Swiss banks in address to Bern rally

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday blasted firms including Nestle for carrying on business as usual with Russia "even though our children are dying", in a live address to a Swiss rally. 

Ukraine's Zelensky blasts Swiss banks in address to Bern rally
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a giant screen after delivering a live voice message during a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in front of the Swiss House of Parliament in Bern, on March 19, 2022. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Zelensky urged Swiss companies to stop doing business in Russia and told the country’s banks to freeze funds belonging to the Kremlin elite. 

Speaking to a rally outside the Swiss parliament in Bern, Zelensky condemned firms that maintained business as usual despite the siege of Mariupol. 

The thousands of demonstrators gathered in the square in front of the Federal Palace heard Zelensky’s nine-minute speech translated in German, though technical problems interrupted the video from Kyiv. 

Zelensky criticised Swiss companies for continuing to do business in Russia, singling out food giant Nestle. 

The company’s slogan is “good food, good life”, he said. 

“Business works in Russia even though our children are dying and our cities are being destroyed,” and while people in Mariupol were “without food, without water, without electricity, under bombardment”. 

Zelensky said it was “painful” that those behind the conflict had funds stashed in Switzerland. 

“The money of the people who unleashed this war is in your banks. Help fight this. So that their funds are frozen,” he said, urging them to join the “fight against evil”. 

Zelensky called for them to be stripped of their properties and privileges, to cheers from the crowd. 

The number of rich Russians resident in Switzerland has grown in recent years. 

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis joined Ukrainian and other diplomats on a stage above a banner reading “Solidarity with Ukraine. Stop the war now.” 

“I’m deeply impressed, dear Volodymyr, from your willingness to resist, from your willingness to go ahead, and from your willingness and the willingness of your population to overcome this terrific crisis,” he told Zelensky. 

Cassis said he hoped the guns would soon fall silent and said Switzerland was prepared to mediate or host negotiations. 

The Swiss president said he would visit the Polish border with Ukraine on Monday.  Earlier, in a newspaper article, Cassis said Russia’s war in Ukraine was driven by “devastating madness” and said Switzerland was prepared to pay the price for defending freedom and democracy, matching EU sanctions on Russia. 

Yevheniia Filipenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Geneva, told the crowd in Bern: “What is happening in Ukraine is an attack not only on Ukraine, on Ukrainian people, it’s an attack on all of us. 

“We have to work together to ensure that these atrocities stop and will never happen again.  “Thank-you, Switzerland for you help to Ukraine and Ukrainians. Together we will win.” 

SEE ALSO: Switzerland brands war in Ukraine ‘devastating madness’

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UKRAINE

Swiss pull out the stops for Ukraine summit security

Switzerland is undertaking a major security operation around this weekend's summit on Ukraine, aiming to ward off not only physical threats but also cyberattacks and misinformation.

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.

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