The international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is instructive of what’s in store for states that behave on the premise that might makes right.
This week Switzerland adopted the sanctions slapped by the European Union on Russia. The Swiss have stressed that their move is compatible with their tradition of neutrality. Russia has engaged in an “attack on sovereignty, freedom, democracy and the population and institutions of a free country,” according to Swiss President Ignazio Cassis. “Playing into the hands of an aggressor is not neutral.”
While no country has directly engaged in military intervention to assist Ukraine in stopping the invasion, Russia has faced a slew of sanctions. It has been cut off from the global SWIFT bank messaging system and several countries particularly in Europe have closed off their airspace to Russian flights.
Effective Feb. 28, Switzerland froze the assets of 363 Russian individuals and four companies, including President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Swiss banks, which as of 2020 reportedly held $11.24 billion in Russian assets, are now barred from doing new business with those on the blacklist, and five oligarchs believed close to Putin face travel bans.
The United States has imposed financial and technology sanctions on Russia, but has held off on including Putin directly and banning Russia from the SWIFT system.
Russia is fighting back, vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the invasion. Switzerland has said it is bracing for Russian retaliation through energy supply disruptions and cyber attacks. Yesterday the UN General Assembly was poised to vote on a non-binding resolution that no longer “condemns” but instead “deplores in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.” The resolution is still “condemning” Putin’s move to put Russian nuclear forces on alert.
Russia has invoked “self-defense” in the invasion, but this has been rejected by much of the global community. The Philippines supported the UN General Assembly resolution and expressed “explicit condemnation” of the invasion.
Ukraine, armed with weapons partly supplied by sympathetic states, has put up strong resistance to the invasion. The conflict, however, has displaced many of its people, and Russian bombardment has hit even Ukrainian civilians and killed children. The conflict has rattled global markets particularly crude oil trading; the Philippines itself is reeling from surging fuel prices. The global community must send a message in the strongest terms that this invasion will turn the perpetrator into an international pariah, with all its dire consequences.