History of diplomatic relations
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Switzerland, and their antecedents, date back to the late seventeenth century, with the first official establishment of relations taking place on 4 February 1687 between the Tsardom of Russia and the Republic of Geneva. It was not until 19 August 1799 that the exchange of envoys were agreed, between what was by then the Russian Empire and the Helvetic Republic, a sister republic of the First French Republic. [5] Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg was the first envoy, though he was withdrawn in 1802 and not replaced, after which time Russia was alternately allied with or at war with the First French Empire under Napoleon I. [6] The Helvetic Republic was dissolved in the 1803 Act of Mediation, and thereafter Switzerland was closely tied with France. Following the defeat of France in the War of the Sixth Coalition, Russian minister Ioannis Kapodistrias acted as representative to Switzerland, and helped in the drafting of the Federal Treaty and in defining the position of Switzerland amongst the great powers at the Congress of Vienna. Under the terms decided at the congress, Russia became one of the guarantors of Swiss neutrality, affirmed in the 1815 Treaty of Paris. [7]
Diplomatic envoys continued to be exchanged during this time, lasting throughout much of the First World War and after the February Revolution in 1917, when the Russian Provisional Government replaced the Imperial regime. While not immediately recognising the Bolshevik government following the October Revolution, Swiss authorities gave permission in May 1918 for a mission headed by Jan Antonovich Berzin as a diplomatic representative to maintain relations. Berzin and his mission were expelled from Switzerland in November 1918, on charges of conducting revolutionary propaganda. [7] [8] The final rupture occurred with the assassination of the Soviet diplomat Vatslav Vorovsky, the official representative to the Lausanne Conference, in 1923. When the assassin, Maurice Conradi, was acquitted by a Swiss jury in a controversial decision, the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations. [7] Relations were not restored until shortly after the Second World War, on 18 March 1946. Anatoly Kulazhenkov [ ru ] was appointed as the first envoy in over twenty years. [9] The Soviet mission to Switzerland was upgraded to an embassy on 31 December 1955, with the Swiss mission to the Soviet Union also upgraded to an embassy on 27 March 1957. [9] With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Switzerland was one of the first countries to recognise Russia as its successor state, and the incumbent Soviet ambassador, Zoya Novozhilova [ ru ], continued to represent Russia until 1992. Since then ambassadors have continued to be exchanged between the two countries. [7]
Diplomatic relations were established with the Principality of Liechtenstein in 1994, and the incumbent ambassador to Switzerland, Andrei Stepanov was given dual accreditation as the non-resident ambassador on 28 February 1995. The practice of the Russian ambassador to Switzerland being concurrently ambassador to Liechtenstein has continued since then. [4]
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