Bern residents rail against Russian diplomats

According to the NZZ am Sonntag, a group of Bern residents want the Russian embassy to reduce its staff numbers to lower the amount of local traffic. © Keystone / Anthony Anex

Bern’s diplomatic district is the scene of an ongoing neighbourhood dispute between Russia’s embassy in Switzerland and a group of local residents. The Swiss foreign ministry has been forced to intervene, Swiss newspapers report.

All is not well in Bern’s diplomatic quarter. Residents who live near the Russian embassy in the Elfenau district have complained to Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis about Russian diplomats working there, in particular about their driving.

“Russian embassy employees have a striking tendency to drive recklessly, as we already know very well from Russia,” they declared in a letter sent last November to the ministry, a copy of which has been seen by the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, it reportedExternal link on Sunday.

The residents say Russian diplomats often drive at excessive speeds through the neighbourhood, where the limit is generally 30 kilometres per hour. The residents of Willadingweg and Brunnadernrain also complain about the high number of vehicles with diplomatic number plates, which are often parked along access roads, the letter states.

The anonymous authors of the letter are also concerned about their own security. The presence of Russian spies in Bern, Geneva, Zurich and other parts of Switzerland represents a “dangerous situation” that has “dramatically intensified” with Russia’s war against Ukraine, they wrote.

Following their complaints, the Swiss foreign ministry reportedly contacted the Russian ambassador and urged embassy staff to “strictly observe traffic rules and speeds inside and outside the neighbourhood and to show more considerate behaviour”.

The foreign ministry does not wish to discuss the dispute and refuses to comment on the spy claims “for reasons of internal security”, it told the paper.

However, if foreign diplomatic personnel do not comply with Swiss laws and regulations, the ministry can take further measures. These could range from contacting the persons concerned directly to asking the state to lift their diplomatic immunity, it said.

As a last resort, an individual “could be declared ‘persona non grata’ and expelled”, it said. Unlike EU states, Switzerland has so far not expelled any Russian diplomats since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The Russian embassy has defended itself against the residents’ accusations. Speaking to the NZZ am SonntagExternal link, which was the first Swiss media to report on the dispute, Ambassador Sergei Garmonin said none of his diplomats had ever been fined for speeding.

“Besides, I would like to stress that unlike many foreign missions in Bern, the Russian embassy pays all the fines we sometimes receive for minor traffic violations, such as overdue parking tickets,” he added.

According to the NZZ am Sonntag, the residents held recent talks on the problems with representatives of the federal government. The neighbours reportedly want the Russian embassy to reduce its staff numbers in Bern to lower the amount of local traffic.