Consulate in Geneva Consulate No staff listed

On August 6th SwissInfo reported that “shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, around 500 Russian diplomats were expelled from European countries in the spring of 2022 — all suspected of espionage. Switzerland was about the only country that did not follow suit. According to the 2023 situation report of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), around 220 people work in Russia’s diplomatic and consular representations in Bern and Geneva. “At least a third of them are likely to still be active for Russian intelligence agencies,” states the FIS. In most other European countries, the latest East-West confrontation has made the work of Russian espionage networks increasingly difficult. “It’s very likely that the Russian intelligence services have more leeway in Switzerland due to their large presence,” reads the statement of the FIS. The honesty of the report reflects how Switzerland deals with espionage networks at home. Intelligence services are prohibited if they gather political, economic and military information and use it to the disadvantage of Switzerland, its institutions, companies and residents and passes it on to foreign actors. However, it is rather difficult to crack down on such networks in reality: diplomatically accredited personnel who are often deployed for such operations enjoy immunity and can hardly be prosecuted. The only option is to expel them, but Switzerland hardly ever does. “It is in Switzerland’s diplomatic DNA to expel diplomats in exceptional cases only,” says historian Adrian Hänni who specialises in the intelligence services. Switzerland does not want to provoke any diplomatic tensions, and Hänni does not believe that expulsions would solve the problem. “Once one spy is expelled, the next one is already in line.” It is probably more efficient for counterintelligence to put one specific intelligence agent under surveillance than to launch a rigorous large-scale crackdown. This is common knowledge in all countries that have expelled Russian diplomats. “Expulsions can also be regarded as a political sign,” says Hänni. “However, since February 2022, some European countries have specifically expelled intelligence officers who were essential for the espionage activities in the embassies. In some cases, the positions in question were eliminated altogether to make sure Moscow could not replace them with a new agent.” Switzerland on the other hand sticks to its tradition of remaining passive in such cases — at least publicly. Hänni thinks that behind the scenes, the Swiss authorities would probably file a complaint to the governments of the respective countries if the activities of their personnel got out of hand.”

The Korrespondent reported on June 27th that “in Geneva and Bern, out of 220 accredited persons of Russian diplomatic and consular institutions, at least one third works for the Russian special services. This is stated in the annual report on the state security of Switzerland. It is noted that such a high performance is partly due to the role of Switzerland as a “host” of international organisations. The report said China also has dozens of intelligence officers who work under diplomatic or consular cover in Switzerland. At the same time, there are far fewer of them than in Russia, since Chinese personnel mostly work under the guise of scientists, journalists or businessmen. As the report says, Russia’s war against Ukraine has made it difficult for spies to operate in Europe due to sanctions and visa restrictions, as well as the expulsion of large numbers of Russian diplomats. A significant role was played by the cancellation of direct regular flights between the Russian Federation and Europe and the fact that the Schengen zone abolished the visa-free regime for stays of up to three months for persons with Russian citizenship. On the other hand, however, the war opened up opportunities for Russian intelligence to send more workers to Europe as “refugees”. The Swiss intelligence services suggest that “a large number of refugees are members of the intelligence services and can travel undetected and be taken in on a temporary basis.” The report notes that it will still be difficult for the Russian Federation to work in most Western states, but the scope of espionage activities and its scope will depend on the decisions of Western governments, which may impose sanctions.”