Critics accuse Switzerland of hosting Russia 'war criminals'

Opponents of Russia's leader Vladimir Putin fear that, more than three years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, some western powers and institutions are at risk of normalising relations with Moscow.

An open letter signed by former political prisoners Vladimir Kara-Murza, Oleg Orlov and Ilya Yashin, among others, accused Switzerland of hosting top Putin allies, including the speaker of the upper house of parliament, as Russia presses ahead with the war against Ukraine.

A delegation led by Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the upper house of parliament, arrived in Geneva on Sunday to take part in a three-day gathering of global parliamentarians that began Monday.

The delegation included Pyotr Tolstoi, deputy speaker of the parliament's lower house, and Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house's international affairs committee.

Matvienko, Tolstoi and Slutsky are under EU and international sanctions.

The trip appeared to be the highest-profile visit to Europe by Russian parliamentarians since the invasion of Ukraine.

"While Geneva hosts war criminals Matvienko, Tolstoi, and Slutsky, Russian troops continue to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. Civilians, children, and women are dying," the signatories said.

- 'Creeping lifting of sanctions' -

The letter also said Italy helped facilitate the visit by authorising the delegation's plane to fly over its territory.

Matvienko, Tolstoi and Slutsky are "key figures of the Putin regime, directly responsible for unleashing the aggressive war against Ukraine, destroying democratic institutions, and large-scale repressions within Russia", it said.

"Their participation in international events in Switzerland should have been prohibited, and they themselves detained."

The signatories demanded to know how and why Putin's allies had been allowed to participate in events in Geneva.

The team of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny called the visit a "disgusting creeping lifting of sanctions".

"All efforts to put pressure on Putin's regime and isolate those who incite and profit from the war could be rendered meaningless if Europeans do not realise what is happening right now," Navalny's team said on X.

The three-day gathering was convened by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an organisation of national parliaments.

Switzerland said it acted in accordance with law and international agreements.

"As a host state, Switzerland does its utmost to facilitate the work of international organisations based on its territory, and in particular in Geneva," a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

Swiss authorities may authorise exemptions from travel restrictions, "notably if the person is travelling to participate in an international conference", the spokesman said.

- 'Accomplices to war' -

Ukrainian officials also voiced outrage.

"Why is the delegation of the aggressor state, condemned by all major international organisations, including the UN and the IPU -- why is the Russian delegation here today?" Olena Kondratiuk, a deputy speaker of Ukraine's parliament, said in Geneva.

Russia's Matvienko spoke at the conference, saying that "root causes" of the Ukraine conflict must be addressed.

Neither Matvienko nor Kondratiuk appeared in the group picture, taken after they both spoke in the assembly hall.

The Switzerland visit came as the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos arrived in the United States on Tuesday to meet the head of NASA in the first such meeting in eight years.

US President Donald Trump has tried to pressure the Kremlin into ending the war, holding phone talks with Putin but also threatening new sanctions.

Days earlier, pro-Putin conductor Valery Gergiev was scheduled to perform in Italy before the concert was cancelled following pressure from Navalny's allies and Ukraine.

"There is a risk that relations between a number of European countries and the United States with Russia will normalise, and this is worrying," Olga Prokopieva, head of the Paris-based association Russie-Libertes, told AFP.

"Now is not the time to show weakness to the Kremlin and allow accomplices to war to be welcomed in democratic countries."