Swiss pharmaceutical exports to the Russian Federation, presently the world’s most sanctioned country, have climbed to a record high, foreign trade data released by Switzerland’s Federal Office for Customs and Border Security has revealed.
Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war more than a year ago, Swiss pharmaceutical exports have increased by some 40%, from slightly over €1.4 billion to a little more than €2 billion, and now account for nearly a third of all Swiss exports to Russia, the Zurich-based newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag reports.
Swiss exports of pharmaceuticals to Russia soared to a 30-year high in 2022.
Pharmaceuticals are considered humanitarian goods and are therefore exempt from sanctions.
Meanwhile, having joined the European Union’s 10 rounds of ever-tightening sanctions, Switzerland’s trade with Russia has come to a standstill in many key sectors, primarily machines and watches.
Swiss goods exported to Russia between March 2022 and February 2023 amounted to €2.94 billion, down 16% from €3.55 billion in the previous year. It is worth noting, however, that Swiss exports to Russia have only surpassed €2.94 billion three times in recent years.
“Given the long list of goods that can no longer be shipped to the warring country, the impact seems soberingly small,” the newspaper said.
“Sales in Russia were driven by a number of factors, including the influx of patients who had delayed medical treatment due to the pandemic,” the NZZ am Sonntag quoted the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis as saying.
Another factor was “the stockpiling by patients and hospitals in anticipation of possible bottlenecks” because of the war, Novartis added.
Switzerland, which has remained a neutral country on matters of foreign policy since 1815, has so far refused to allow countries that have Swiss-made weaponry from re-exporting them to Ukraine, despite both heated debate within the country and continuous pressure from Kyiv to do so.
