Swiss won’t recognize Russian passports from occupied Ukraine

Switzerland joins the European Union (EU) that had stated it will not acknowledge sham “Russian passports” from occupied Ukranian territories

Switzerland’s governing body, the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation, issued a statement today, announcing that the confederation will not recognize passports issued to the residents of the four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed and occupied by Russia in the course of its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.

With that announcement, Switzerland has joined the European Union (EU) that had stated it will not acknowledge sham “Russian passports” from occupied Ukranian territories.

“The new Russian travel documents <…> [issued in the illegally occupied regions of Ukraine] no longer give the right to obtain a visa or cross the external borders of the Schengen Area. The relevant decision was made by the EU on December 8, 2022. The Federal Council made this decision at a meeting on January 11, 2023,” the Swiss government’s statement read.

“The European Commission determines which travel documents issued after a certain date will no longer be accepted. Exceptions can be made if the holders of travel documents were already Russian citizens before the cut-off date, as well as for their descendants, minors and disabled people,” Swiss Federal Council added.

In September of 2022, Switzerland declared that it would not recognize the incorporation of the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk “people’s republics” as well as the annexed and occupied Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russian Federation.

On October 5, 2022, Russian President Putin signed a decree on the accession of the two Donbass republics, the Zaporozhye Region and the Kherson Region to Russia.

After invading Ukraine February 24, 2022, and occupying four regions, Russia quickly held bogus “referendums” on the occupied territories, under the gun, later claiming that “the majority” of the population “voted” to join Russia.

After the fraudulent “vote” on September 23-27, Putin and the Ukrainian collaborators appointed by Russian invaders as “heads” of the annexed regions, finalized “accession treaties,” with Putin signing a decree on the “accession” the looted Ukrainian territories to Russia on October 5, 2022.

The annexation was not recognized by the international community, with the exception of North Korea.

Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, and the United Nations all said that the “referendums” and the annexation had no legal basis or effect.