US Pressures Switzerland to Shun St. Petersburg Economic Forum

GENEVA (Sputnik) — Early April, an unnamed diplomat from the US Embassy in Bern told representatives from Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) that Washington expected the Swiss government to dissuade the country's business leaders from visiting SPIEF "as usual," Le Matin Dimanche newspaper reported.

The US diplomat stressed the need to reject the idea of conducting business with Russia, the newspaper added.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed the topic of the meeting, according to the publication, while the US embassy refused to provide the details of the meeting, while noting that it maintains permanent contact with SECO.

The 2016 SPIEF is due to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on June 16-18. The forum is attended annually by business and official representatives from dozens of countries.

Relations between Russia and the United States deteriorated after Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014 and the crisis in eastern Ukraine began. The United States, as well as the European Union and some other countries, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia's energy, banking and defense industries.