The riddle of Russian money in Switzerland
Low level of sanctioned funds belies assumptions that it is a treasure house of Putin kleptocracy
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SAM JONES THERE'S a well-worn Swiss bankers joke about the venality of a particular country. The actual country changes with the times but since this is April 2022, it starts like this: “Where is the capital of Russia?”
You can guess the punchline.
Two months into Vladimir Putin’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, however, what is remarkable is just how little Russian capital actually seems to be in the Alps. Neutral, inscrutable Switzerland was, perhaps more than any other country, presumed to be the treasure house of the Putin kleptocracy.
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