Switzerland hosts sanctioned pro-war Russian politicians at global parliamentary speakers’ conference in Geneva

Photo: Valentina Matviyenko at the Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament / Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) / YouTube

A Russian delegation has arrived in Geneva for the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. The group includes Federation Council Chair Valentina Matviyenko, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy, and Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky.

All three are under EU and international sanctions. While Switzerland is not a member of the EU, it largely mirrors and has adopted most EU sanctions against Russia — especially those related to finance and international trade — to prevent their circumvention through the country. However, there appear to be no entry bans for some individuals, which is why some high-ranking Russians, including propagandists and state officials, are able to cross Switzerland’s border and attend international events.

On Monday, July 28, Matviyenko spoke at the Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, where she urged participants to visit Donbas in order to witness for themselves what she described as the crimes of the “Kyiv regime.” Matviyenko’s speech, titled “Women, Peace, and Security 25 Years On: Persistent Issues and the Way Forward,” encouraged listeners to:

“Please, come to Donbas and see the Alley of Angels, dedicated to the memory of the murdered children. Russia was forced to intervene to stop the bloodshed, to stop the killing of civilians. And yesterday, July 27, was the Day of Remembrance for Children Victims of the War in Donbas. I always urge people to speak the truth when looking others in the eye, to be guided by facts rather than invented stories.”

The Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, will take place in Geneva from July 29-31. A Ukrainian delegation is also expected to attend. According to a report by Russia’s state-controlled news agency TASS, Matviyenko has already met with the president of the Swiss National Council and the secretary general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Telegram channel Sirena reported that the aircraft carrying the Russian delegation was allowed to pass through Italian airspace en route to Geneva.

The visit prompted a swift response from the late Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), which took to X (formerly Twitter) to call the concession a “disgusting rollback of sanctions.”

“All three are under EU sanctions. And what is Europe doing? Switzerland turns a blind eye and welcomes these war criminals and enablers. Italy opens its airspace for their flight.

This is exactly the kind of thing that almost happened with [conductor Valery] Gergiev’s concert: the slow normalization of Putin’s regime in Western countries.

The logic is simple: if they were allowed into Europe once, why not again? If they were given a platform at one international conference, why not invite them to another?

All efforts to pressure and isolate Putin’s regime — to target the warmongers and those profiting from this war — risk being erased.”

The ACF's statement referred to the recent cancellation of a performance by the conductor Valery Gergiev, the head of the Bolshoi Theater and a longtime vocal supporter of Vladimir Putin. Gergiev had been booked to make an appearance at a festival in the Italian city of Caserta on July 27. His performance was canceled following outcry from Ukrainian and antiwar Russian activists, the ACF, and Italian and European politicians.

Matviyenko was not the only pro-war Russian representative to make the trip. Leonid Slutsky, the head of the populist ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) also traveled to the conference. Investigative reporting by The Insider previously showed that Slutsky's foundation has passed data on foreign nationals to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency — for recruitment purposes. Slutsky has also claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sold out Ukraine and Ukrainians,” and called French President Emmanuel Macron “insane.”

Another member of the delegation, Deputy State Duma Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, is the author of legislation banning adoptions in Russia by citizens of countries where gender transitions are allowed. Tolstoy is also known for threatening to “kill every French soldier who sets foot on Ukrainian soil.”

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• Performance of pro-Putin conductor Valery Gergiev in Italy canceled following international outcry