Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked Switzerland to return to its “policy of neutrality” during a meeting with President of the Confederation Ignazio Cassis in New York, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Twitter.
This neutrality has allowed Switzerland to be recognized on the international scene in previous years, could be read on the official channel early Thursday morning. Ignazio Ignazio Cassis said after the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that he asked Sergei Lavrov to abandon the “so-called” referendums in the occupied territories of Ukraine. And he expressed his deep concern over the threat of the use of nuclear weapons.
The Russian Foreign Ministry posted a photo of Sergei Lavrov and Ignazio Cassis shaking hands on Twitter, prompting criticism in Switzerland and on social media. It is right and important that Switzerland continue to dialogue with Russia”, declared the PS national councilor from Zurich Fabio Molina on Blick TV.
But the power of images is extremely important in such a propaganda war. This is why it is very awkward that the President of the Confederation has let himself be trapped in a photo, where he appears smiling. “There are meetings where you take a picture and others where you don’t,” says Fabio Molina.
The leader of the Center parliamentary group, Matthias Bregy (VS), also reacted angrily on Blick.ch. For him, it is “incomprehensible that we allow ourselves to be fooled by the Russian propaganda machine with a photograph”.
Pascal Couchepin to the rescue
PLR leader Thierry Burkart came to the rescue of his federal adviser by saying that if one wanted to offer his good offices, one had to speak to Sergei Lavrov and that a handshake was part of it. “A photo of this is unfortunate, but sometimes you can’t avoid it,” he told Blick.ch.
Ignazio Cassis also received the support of former Federal Councilor and party colleague Pascal Couchepin. The criticism is “ridiculous”, the Valaisan told SRF. Such a photo is simply part of life, you can’t avoid it.