Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) Ignazio Cassis said on Wednesday that he had discussed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the September spy scandal, noting that the situation has improved since then.
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2018) Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) Ignazio Cassis said on Wednesday that he had discussed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the September spy scandal, noting that the situation has improved since then."We continued the discussion which started in New York with regard to the activities of [Russian] intelligence agencies in Switzerland. I am glad to note that the situation has significantly improved following our discussions in Moscow [in September]," Cassis said at a joint press conference following talks with Lavrov in Geneva.
The diplomat also spoke about the visit of Swiss intelligence chief Jean-Philippe Gaudin to Moscow in early November, describing it as "useful."
In September, Swiss and Dutch media reported about two Russians who allegedly intended to spy on the Spiez laboratory near Bern, which analyzes chemical and biological weapons.
In late October, the Office of the Swiss Attorney General (OAG) confirmed to Sputnik that it had received authorization from the Federal Department of Justice and Police to prosecute two Russian nationals. The authorization reportedly concerned a case, launched by the OAG in March 2017, concerning two Russian nationals suspected of carrying out a cyberattack against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), whose main European office is in Switzerland's Lausanne.
According to Swiss media reports, the same two individuals were detained in the Netherlands just as they were allegedly headed for the Spiez laboratory. The two suspects were then deported to Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the allegations "another orchestrated propaganda" campaign.
