Switzerland Stops Trade Talks With Russia

Switzerland has decided to freeze talks on a trade deal with Russia as a result of the Crimea crisis, its economy minister said on Wednesday.

Johann Schneider-Ammann said the talks with Moscow and its ex-Soviet customs union partners Belarus and Kazakhstan had been put on hold "in such a situation of uncertainty." 

"The reason is the difficult situation over Crimea ... We cannot of course pretend that nothing has happened," he told Swiss public radio station SRF, quoted by AFP. "Free-trade deals are important. The Russian market is important, and the customs union's market is important, but not at any price,"he said. "We have therefore decided to put the talks on hold, in order to be able to negotiate in safer circumstances in due course," he added. 

Switzerland is one of the several countries to take some kind of measures against Russia. Among them are Australia, Japan, Canada, USA and the EU member states.