Meetings in Moscow and St. Petersburg are acheduled with various representatives of the Russian government, parliament.
“The invitation has long been on the table,” said President of the Council, Jürg Stahl on Tuesday, at the request of the news agency sda. The strength of Switzerland is to seek dialogue with different countries, Stahl confirmed in a report from the Swiss radio RTS on Monday evening.
The two vice-presidents of the National Council, Dominique de Buman and Marina Carobbio Guscetti, representing other political parties, will be part of the team. The delegation also includes high-ranking politicians.
Several bilateral meetings are planned in Moscow, including with the President of the House of the Russian Parliament, the equivalent of the Council of States in Switzerland.
The delegation will meet with Vitali Mutko, former sports minister, who was also accused of “state-controlled doping”.
Stahl has been President of Swiss Olympic since this year and as such wants to bring the Olympic Winter Games to Switzerland. In 2014, Stahl visited the Olympic Games in Sochi.
Parliamentary ties play an important role in bolstering mutual understanding and trust between Switzerland and Russia, so expanding cooperation in this sphere would be beneficial for both sides, said Stahl prior to his official Russia visit.
“Parliaments play an important role in bilateral relations,” he noted. “Being people’s representatives, MPs contribute to cultivating understanding and trust through direct contacts. I am confident that both parties will benefit from the growth of parliamentary cooperation.”
Commenting on the state of Swiss-Russian ties, Jurg Stahl told Russian news service TASS that both countries “have stable relations”.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2007 that “establishes the framework for systematic and deep cooperation in foreign policy and security, law, police, migration, economy, science, innovation, education, and culture” is an important part of cooperation, according to Stahl.
Stahl also noted that “Switzerland is not an EU member and did not impose sanctions against Russia”. But he explained that his country had to “take measures to prevent the usage of its territory for the purpose of bypassing international sanctions,” due to international pressure.
“With regard to the country’s neutral status, the Swiss government decided, apart from that, to widen the existing ban on exporting military equipment in Russia and Ukraine, by adding some defense industry products to it.
Last week, the US House of Representatives adopted a decision to allocate military assistance to Ukraine. By the end of September, the Pentagon will allocate $150 million to Ukraine to be spent on training, lethal weapons for defensive purposes, vehicles, and equipment.
The House of Representatives has passed the funding and sent it for approval to the Senate.