Pressure is intensifying on Ukrainian men taking refuge abroad, including in Switzerland, to return to their country. Volodymyr Zelensky urges them to take up arms and come and defend the country. But “if all the Ukrainians who had taken refuge here were sent to the front, that would change nothing in the outcome of the war,” reacts a Ukrainian in Switzerland in La Matinale.
Last May, a new Ukrainian law came into force: the age of mobilization was lowered from 27 to 25 years. In addition, men aged between 18 and 60 and residing abroad must prove that they are registered with the army to benefit from consular services.
According to figures for May, 11,400 Ukrainian men, aged 18 to 60, reside in Switzerland with S status.
Refusal to fight against one’s own
Dima, a 36-year-old computer scientist in good health, arrived in Switzerland with his wife and two children at the start of the war. Although he meets the Ukrainian government’s new criteria for combat, he categorically refuses to return to Ukraine. Having lived through the beginnings of the Donbass war, he under no circumstances wants to inflict it on his children. Moreover, he is reluctant to risk death for a country whose functioning he considers indefensible.
“In our country, we have a high level of corruption, since our independence thirty years ago, regardless of the president. Today, we are asked to return to the country to fight. However, politicians and those who occupy important positions do not seem to send their children to the front,” he testified on Monday in La Matinale de la RTS.
I don’t understand how I could fight against people I know
Moreover, he might have to fight against his own people: “I come from eastern Ukraine, from Donbass, I still have family and friends living there. It is possible that some people I I know have joined the Russian army and are now on the other side of the front line. I don’t understand how I could fight against them.
Dima wants to believe that his personal situation will help him avoid being sent back to Ukraine: since he arrived in Switzerland, he has not received any financial aid from the state. He has always worked and is now an employee of a Swiss company.
Some believe that this war makes no sense
Vadim (name changed) is a fifty-year-old who emigrated to Switzerland six months ago. Despite health problems, if he returns to Ukraine, he could be mobilized. “It’s true, that’s not very fair. Some of us can be protected in this magnificent country of Switzerland, while others are mobilized. But if all the Ukrainian refugees here were sent to front, it would not change anything at the end of the war. On the other hand, half of us would be killed and the others would be injured or become disabled”, he confided to our colleagues at SRF.
Even if all the Ukrainians refugee here were sent to the front, it would not change anything
Vadim considers himself a pacifist. In his eyes, this war that Ukraine seems to be losing makes no sense. He believes that his country must lay down its arms and begin peace negotiations with Russia.
The fragile protection of deserters
For the moment, these men do not run the risk of being expelled from Switzerland, because their S status gives them protection. The decision to withdraw or revise the S permit for Ukrainian men rests with the Federal Council, which does not need parliamentary approval to act.
Regarding S status, the government has so far stated that it will only make changes, if necessary, in coordination with the European Union.
However, political pressure is very present, since more and more bourgeois elected representatives in Parliament believe that they no longer have anything to do in Switzerland, simply because our law prohibits granting asylum to those who deserters are called.
“There are men who are here not to go to war, but Ukraine needs soldiers. The right to asylum is based on a basis which stipulates that each case must be re-examined individually. It is clear that we “We must take illnesses and family circumstances into account. However, each case must be re-examined individually,” says Christian Wasserfallen, Bernese PLR national advisor.
This request is also part of a specific budgetary situation. Welcoming 64,000 Ukrainian nationals is becoming increasingly costly for the Confederation and the cantons, after two years of a war which is not about to end.
Reason why more and more elected officials from the center-right would like some to return to their country.
Radio subject: Céline Fontannaz
Web adaptation: Miroslav Mares
