The Kremlin has repeatedly sought to influence the campaign over Switzerland’s neutrality initiative in recent weeks, reported SRF.
Swiss voters will decide on the neutrality initiative on September 27th 2026. Among other things, it would write into the constitution a broad ban on sanctions against states involved in armed conflicts. Switzerland’s obligations under the United Nations would be exempt.
The proposal has attracted attention in Moscow. In recent weeks RT.DE, a Kremlin-funded outlet, has published several articles about Swiss sanctions on Russia. They are critical of the Swiss Federal Council, which opposes the initiative, and sympathetic to the proposal.
Several of RT’s articles one the vote are attributed to Hans-Ueli Läppli, though no journalist by that name can be identified. The surname is familiar in Switzerland from Alfred Rasser’s fictional character Theophil Läppli, a stereotypically naïve Swiss soldier. In one article the elusive Läppli recommends: more social media is now needed: X, TikTok and Instagram.
The Kremlin wants to normalise the war
Russia is seeking to portray its war in Ukraine as an ordinary conflict between two states, Ulrich Schmid, a professor of Eastern European studies at the University of St Gallen, told SRF. Adding neutrality to Switzerland’s constitution would play into the Kremlin’s hands.
Russian actors distribute much of their material through social media. Representatives of the Kremlin have also promoted the neutrality initiative directly, including a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry.
Mr Schmid expects such efforts to have little effect. But he argues that Switzerland should nonetheless take them seriously. Attempts to influence Swiss opinion are part of a broader Kremlin strategy of destabilisation, he says, and are designed to work over the long term. It is therefore worth looking a such efforts more closely, warns the professor.
Parliament wants tougher measures
The federal government acknowledges the problem. In response to a request from SRF, the State Secretariat for Security Policy (SEPOS) said that foreign disinformation and state-sponsored attempts at influence specifically targeting Switzerland are on the rise.
In a draft security policy document SEPOS warns that foreign influence operations and disinformation can affect election and referendum results. It says such campaigns seek to polarise societies and undermine trust in democratic institutions, and notes that Russia has long used disinformation to destabilise Western countries. The strategy proposes better monitoring, public warnings and greater scrutiny of large online platforms.
At the end of 2025 the Federal Council set up a working group to deal with such activity. It is intended to improve co-operation within the federal administration and raise public awareness of attempts at foreign interference.
Parliament thinks more should be done. It is considering tougher measures against foreign interference. Proposals include monitoring social media and identifying foreign actors behind influence campaigns. Such steps could also mean giving the intelligence service greater resources or powers.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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