President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia’s double taxation agreements with over 30 “unfriendly countries” – those that have imposed sanctions on Moscow – including Switzerland, news agencies have reported.
The Russian agencies Tass and Interfax reported the information on Tuesday following the publication of a document on an official Russian legal portal. The information was relayed by the Italian press agency Ansa and the German agency DPA. The measure had been proposed by Russia’s finance and foreign ministries in March, Reuters reported.
The presidential decree suspends certain provisions of tax treaties aimed at avoiding double taxation and tax evasion, notably with the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Switzerland.
Moscow justifies this measure on the grounds of alleged “violations of the economic and other legitimate interests of the Russian Federation”. Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to draft a corresponding bill and present it to parliament.
The Swiss authorities said they had not been officially informed of the presidential decree. The double-taxation agreement dated November 15, 1995, concluded between Switzerland and Russia, is one of the affected treaties.
As Bern has not received any official notification regarding this change, it assumes that the current treaty remains applicable, the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Western countries have imposed successive waves of economic sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February last year, which it calls a “special military operation”.
Moscow has classified 50 countries and entities as “unfriendly”, including Switzerland, the EU, the US and Australia.