The visit of Swiss Minister of Economics Doris Leuthard and a delegation of 20 businesspeople to St. Petersburg went badly from the start.
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Swiss Minister Feels the Common Touch at Russian Airport
Doris Leuthard, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Economics and holder of a diplomatic passport, was subject to personal examination yesterday as she left Russia via Pulkovo 2 Airport in St. Petersburg. She was heading a 20-person business delegation. Their visit to St. Petersburg had been soured even before their departure, since both St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko and Leningrad Region Governor Valery Serdyukov were in Moscow when the Swiss arrived.
When told that they were to remove their shoes and pass through a metal detector before boarding their Zurich-bound plane, Leuthard explained that she and other members of the delegation have diplomatic immunity and are not subject to search. Swiss Ambassador to Russia Erwin Hofer, who was with the delegation, confirmed that information. Airport personnel stood firm, however, and the delegates eventually underwent the standard boarding procedure.
“This is the first time that has happened to me,” Leuthard commented to accompanying journalists. Her press secretary, Christoph Hans, said that the economics ministry would consult with the foreign ministry about the appropriate response to the incident. Legal experts say that there is no law banning the searching of diplomats, although an unspoken rule says that it is not done except in the most extreme circumstances. The administration of Pulkovo Airport has not commented on the incident yet.
This is not the first time a Swiss diplomat has encountered difficulties while crossing a border. On December 2, 2006, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications and then federation president Moritz Leuenberger was detained by German police in Frankfurt Airport while transferring flights on his way back from a state visit to Ethiopia. A jar of honey presented to him by Ethiopian officials was confiscated and a scandal followed in Switzerland’s German-language newspapers. Leuthard’s predecessor Josef Deiss was also once searched.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 14, 2008
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