Flying in the face of sanctions

The Russian delegation, many of whom have also been sanctioned, were able to enter Switzerland by exploiting a “loophole” for diplomats. Despite being held personally responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, they were given specific permission to fly in, with Italy allowing the Russian government plane to fly over EU territory. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called the incident “disgraceful”, while Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratiuk called on the attendees to boycott all events involving Matviyenko.

“Any joint photo or handshake with her means taking the side of the aggressor. And this will definitely be used by Russian propaganda to justify the crimes of the Russian Federation,” Kondratiuk wrote.

Bypassing sanctions

Matviyenko is taking part in the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and in the 15th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, which run from 28 July to 30 July at UN headquarters in Geneva.

The Russian delegation consists of 13 people in all, including Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, Leonid Slutsky, the leader of Russia’s far-right nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and State Duma Deputy Chairman Duma Pyotr Tolstoy, all of whom appear on sanctions lists. 

According to flight-monitoring service Flightradar, Russian government flight RSD373 left Moscow and flew over the Black Sea, Türkiye and the Mediterranean and entered the EU via Italy on 27 July. 

Matviyenko has been sanctioned by Switzerland since 2014 in relation to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. She has also been sanctioned by the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, US and Ukraine. The sanctions include a ban on her entering the EU and a freeze on her assets.

It was Matviyenko, as head of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russian parliament, who approved the annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and greenlit Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine two days before the full-scale invasion, on 22 February 2022. Yet she and her colleagues were able to come to Switzerland nonetheless, being granted special permits to do so. 

The Swiss Federal Department for Foreign Affairs (FDFA) confirmed to Novaya Gazeta Europe that the authorities can allow officials, even those who appear on sanctions lists, to enter its territory to attend international conferences. “As a host state, Switzerland does its utmost to facilitate the work of international organisations based on its territory, and in particular in Geneva. In accordance with the Host State Agreement concluded by the Federal Council with the IPU, Switzerland has the responsibility to facilitate the entry into Switzerland of official delegates to the organisation.” The FDFA said it did not comment on specific cases.

However, it is not clear why the Italian government had allowed the Russian delegation to fly through the country’s airspace. Sergey Lagodinsky, a German Green Party member of the European Parliament, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that flying over EU territory violated sanctions, adding that a lawsuit can be filed in the EU Court of Justice over Italy allowing the Russian delegation to use its airspace.

“Though that probably won’t happen. There are many other global problems and issues of much greater significance than Matviyenko and Tolstoy travelling to Geneva,” Lagodinsky noted.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials have continued to fly to “forbidden" countries, despite sanctions and their support for the war. In December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to Malta for a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Council of Foreign Ministers, his first visit to the EU since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Such trips are made possible by neither EU nor US sanctions being watertight. The US is a signatory to a 1947 UN headquarters agreement, which obliges it to provide open access to UN events, even to foreign representatives who have come under sanctions.

Exceptions can likewise be made at the request of any EU country or a body such as a ministry in a separate state. All restrictions can be lifted for specific dates, for example, with the sanctioned official in question merely having to show their invitation to an event at the border.

‘For democracy. For everyone.’

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which hosts the conference, was founded by French politician Frédéric Passy and British statesman William Randal Cremer in 1889. Today, the IPU unites 181 national parliaments, including Russia’s, and those of 15 associate members. Its official motto is “For democracy. For everyone”. 

“We want a world where every voice counts, where democracy and parliaments are at the service of the people for peace and development,” the website says, which goes on to say that the IPU is financed mainly from member state budgets. In 2024, the Russian State Duma contributed about €275,000.

On 23 March 2022, the IPU adopted a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, while the resolution is clear that Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of sovereign Ukraine, it does not mention any specific action the organisation has taken or might take going forward. The IPU said it was “gravely concerned” about the war and deplored Russia’s use of missiles and artillery against civilian objects. 

‘Please come to Donbas’

Matviyenko spoke on Monday at the 15th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament in Geneva, the focus of which this year is “on the role of women speakers in leading for inclusive and lasting peace”. She urged attendees to visit Donbas to see for themselves “the crimes of the Kiev regime”, and accused other countries of conducting an “information war” against Russia and using “anti-Russian rhetoric”. She called for a lifting of sanctions and for people to “speak up in defence of peace”.

Matviyenko also met with Maja Riniker, the speaker of the Swiss Parliament, Thoko Didiza, the speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, and President of the IPU Tulia Ackson, who is also the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania. The East African country refrains from condemning Russia over Ukraine and votes for “neutral” UN resolutions.

Reacting to Matviyenko’s presence in Geneva, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi said “Matviyenko’s place is in the dock, not at international conferences. Her admission to Geneva is disgraceful and should never have happened. The genocidal Matviyenko bears personal responsibility for the crime of aggression and all subsequent atrocities after publicly endorsing the use of Russian armed forces on Ukrainian territory. We urge all participants with at least some self-respect to avoid shaking her hand, which is covered in Ukrainian blood. We will continue to work tirelessly on another trip for Valentina Matviyenko — one she truly deserves — to The Hague, where the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine will soon begin its work,” he wrote.

Although no major European politician or leader is yet to make a public comment on the Russian delegation’s presence, protesters demanding “criminals out of Geneva” did gather at UN headquarters on Monday. One protester, Marina Sotnikova, told Novaya Europe that she wanted to know “who invited them to this summit and how they managed to bypass European sanctions and enter Swiss territory”. 

Sotnikova, a blogger and journalist from the Russian city of Yekaterinburg who received political asylum in France, said such trips were a way for Russian officials to legitimise the war, adding: “It’s as if they hadn’t started this criminal war of aggression three and a half years ago at Putin’s behest, with the approval of the speaker of the Federation Council”.