MOSCOW, August 24 (HS/RIA Novosti) - Switzerland's move to freeze Russian assets violates international law and undermines the alpine nation's neutral status, the Russian Embassy in Bern told RIA Novosti.

Bern is outright violating international law by aligning with illegitimate EU restrictions. Its approach undermines Switzerland's neutral status, the diplomatic mission said.

Earlier in August, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs told RIA Novosti that the value of private Russian assets frozen in Swiss bank accounts had increased by more than a billion Swiss francs over the past year to 8.5 billion francs ($10.6 billion). This is in addition to impounded real estate and art.

Following the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, the European Union and G7 countries froze almost half of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves in their bank accounts worth some 300 billion euros. Of this, over 200 billion euros is held in the EU, primarily in the accounts of the Belgian-based Euroclear depository. The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the freezing of Russian state and private assets as theft.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar