Switzerland Today

Greetings from Lausanne!

Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Monday.

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

In the news: consumers feeling the strain, money-laundering, climate talks and Ukrainian refugees.

• Swiss consumers and industry are feeling the strain of higher prices. Consumers are much more pessimisticExternal link about the general economic situation, with households feeling the strain as prices continue to rise, a new survey shows.
• Credit Suisse woes continue. A group of people and entities have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States against Credit Suisse, alleging that the Swiss bank misled investors over business dealings related to Russian oligarchs, according to the law firm Pomerantz LLP.External link
• The number of reported suspicious financial transactions continued to rise in Switzerland in 2021, but at a lower rate than in the first year of the pandemic. Switzerland’s Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) saw a 12% increase of suspicious activity reports last year to reach 5,962.
• Federal parliamentarians and experts held talksExternal link today in Bern on climate change and biodiversity issues. The aim was to improve the exchange of information between scientists and politicians in Switzerland. They notably discussed the recent IPCC climate reports. The majority of lawmakers on the right declined the invitation.
• There was a small rise in the number of people banned from entering Switzerland last year, according to the 2021 annual report of the Federal Office of PoliceExternal link. Of the 187 people who were refused entry to the country (up from 167), 25 had mafia links and 70 were presumed spies (up from 19 in 2020). The number of people with possible terrorist connections fell from 144 in 2020 to 92.
• Two months since the start of the war in Ukraine, 45,348 Ukrainians have been registered as refugees in Switzerland, according to State Secretariat for Migration.

Anthony Anex

What is the impact of the Swiss-EU political impasse on scientists?

Almost one year ago, Bern broke off talks with Brussels concerning an institutional framework agreement aimed at overseeing long-term political ties.

Soon afterwards, the European Union reacted by downgrading Switzerland’s participation in the €100-billion Horizon Europe research funding scheme, restricting its access to important grants and scientific projects. A new Swiss proposal to revive bilateral relations with the EU and unblock the situation currently faces an uphill battle in Brussels.

Much has been written about the impact of these developments on the Swiss and European research communities and universities. Swiss public television, RTS, reportsExternal link today on whether the fears of a researcher brain drain, recruitment problems and loss of attractiveness are a reality 12 months on.

RTS talked to Grégoire Ribordy, who runs the Geneva-based firm IDQuantique. The specialist in quantum-safe data security solutions explains how his company has been badly affected by being excluded from European research programmes. To circumvent the problems, Ribordy says he now plans to carry out certain research activities in Austria rather than Switzerland as a result of the Swiss-EU impasse.

Bern is compensating the loss of EU money with Swiss financial support – but is this enough for researchers? Some scientists, like molecular biologist Manuela Hospenthal, face the dilemma of whether to accept prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants but have to leave Switzerland to complete their work in an EU country or stay in Switzerland and renounce the EU money and prestige.

This new swissinfo.ch report looks at the impact of the Swiss-EU impasse on nuclear fusion energy work carried out by Swiss scientists.

The RTS report concludes that under the current deadlock the Swiss research community is “doomed not to a sudden decline, but to a slow erosion”.

© Keystone / Ti-press / Samuel Golay

Press speculation continues about possible connections between Switzerland and Vladimir Putin’s alleged mistress.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, rumour has swirled about the possible presence in Switzerland of Putin’s alleged mistress, the former gymnast Alina Kabaeva, and children they may have had together.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street JournalExternal link, US and European security officials believe Kabaeva stayed in Switzerland for long stretches of time. The Ukraine government has stepped up calls on the West to pursue actions against her. But the Swiss government said it had no indication she was in the country. 

The WSJ claimed Swiss, US and European officials believe Kabaeva travelled to Switzerland and gave birth to Putin’s child in 2015. The WSJ said she stayed in one of Europe’s most expensive maternity clinics—the Sant’Anna—overlooking Lake Lugano (see photo above). Following the birth, she spent more of her time in Switzerland, at both a luxury residence in Lugano, overlooking the city’s mountain lake, and the high-walled compound in Cologny, the officials said.

SonntagszeitungExternal link journalists have tried to get to the bottom of recent claims. They reported that a Swiss gynaecologist with Russian roots helped with the birth of her two children – the first boy in 2015 was born in the Sant’Anna clinic, the second in 2019 in Moscow. Father: Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has long denied any relationship between Putin and Kabaeva. “Information about the birth of a baby fathered by Vladimir PutinExternal link doesn’t correspond to reality,” said Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

As to Kabaeva’s presence in Switzerland, the former Russian Olympic gymnast was pictured on April 21 at an event at Moscow’s VTB Arena. This was reportedly the first time she had been seen in public since Russia invaded Ukraine.