Soviet-Swiss trade relations in the period of the Cold War (1945-1991)

Result

The project’s research objectives were achieved. The first research question of the project asked how trade and economic relations between the USSR and Switzerland emerged and developed between 1945 and 1991 (RQ1). In answer to it, the project produced a systematic reconstruction of Soviet-Swiss trade and economic relations during the Cold War, identifying four phases: initial contacts and the 1948 treaty package (1946–1953), normalisation (1953–1964), the détente-era peak (1965–1979), and late institutionalisation up to the emergence of joint ventures after 1987 (1979–1991). The study presents significant new empirical data on both the Soviet and Swiss sides, and brings to the forefront previously overlooked participants in East-West economic relations—the Soviet trade mission, trade organisations, alongside institutions enforcing the embargo, thereby making it possible to reconstruct the “hierarchy of relations” among them.

The second research question concerned the role of political factors in Switzerland’s trade policy towards the USSR and the significance of the country’s neutral status for bilateral trade (RQ2). The study argues that Swiss neutrality functioned in practice as a dynamic equilibrium—managed by the authorities, contested domestically, and adjusted with each crisis. For Swiss policymakers, trade with the USSR offered a set of controllable benefits—energy security after 1973, export orders for key industries, and a demonstration of the universality of Switzerland’s international relations. Moscow considered Swiss neutrality to be an infrastructure that could be exploited for its own benefit: a non-NATO channel for accessing Western technology, a transit hub, and a source of hard currency through the sale of gold via the Soviet Union-controlled “Wozchod Handelsbank AG” in Zurich.

The third research question focused on the impact of Western export restrictions (CoCom) on Swiss-Soviet trade and the companies involved (RQ3). The central finding concerns a structural loophole in the Western export-control architecture: Switzerland became an important route for circumventing the embargo on the supply of high-technology goods to the East. This was made possible by legally available instruments, above all the customs-free warehouses (Zollfreilager), where goods in transit remained beyond the reach of national controls. The authorities were aware of this problem, and as part of the project an extensive collection of documents was compiled on the routes, the actors and schemes of this circumvention trade, drawn from Soviet, Swiss and American archives, which trace how this issue escalated into a confrontation between Bern and Washington during the technology-denial campaign of the 1980s. A separate analysis of corporate archives and Soviet foreign-trade records yielded five distinct strategies pursued by Swiss firms in the Soviet market, from sales of finished products and technology-and-licensing packages to intermediation on third markets, corporate financing of Soviet orders and, after 1987, joint ventures.

These findings rest on archival fieldwork in twelve archival collections in the course of which around 1,000 documents were digitised. In the Swiss Federal Archives, the collected files cover the negotiation of the 1948 treaty package, American pressure on Swiss East–West trade in 1948–1987, the 1967–1971 Soviet–Swiss watchmaking agreement, Switzerland’s implementation of CoCom export controls, and federal police files on Soviet and East-bloc embassy and trade-mission personnel. In the Archiv für Zeitgeschichte, the Vorort collection yielded an almost continuous record of Swiss–Soviet economic diplomacy, from the 1948 treaty package to the annual sessions of the Joint Commission (1971–1985). The Swiss Social Archives supplied a 1989 compendium of all Swiss–Soviet agreements and the records of the Gesellschaft Schweiz–UdSSR (1948–1956).

Access was also negotiated to the corporate archives of five firms: Brown Boveri & Cie, Alusuisse, Roche, Georg Fischer, and Wahli Frères SA. On the Soviet side, the research drew on the corpus of Moscow archival documents digitised before the fellowship the access to which was supplemented during the course of the project by remote access to the files of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade (RGAE fond 413, including Stankoimport), the State Committee for Science and Technology (fond 9480), the Wozchod Handelsbank (fonds 2324, 7590), the Central Committee files of RGANI, and the records of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Switzerland (AVPRF).

The collected archival information was digitised and systematised in a structured dataset covering the volume and composition of Swiss–Soviet trade. It may be released as an open database or as an edited collection of archival documents with expert commentary.

The oral-history component was realised through five in-depth interviews with former actors of Swiss–Soviet trade on both sides, representing the main categories of actors foreseen in the research plan.

Conference presentations

The results of the project were presented at two international conferences:

• ESHET–HES Conference, May 2026;
• 16th Annual Cold War History Research Center International Conference, Corvinus University of Budapest, July 2026.

Publications

The findings of the project are being published in a monograph and three research articles:

• Swiss–Soviet Commerce during the Cold War. Trading Across the Iron Curtain: Neutrality, Embargoes, and the Politics of Business —  the book proposal has passed the first round of peer review at a leading international academic publisher, and the manuscript is in preparation;

Articles

• “Printing the Ruble on Swiss Presses: Managing Soviet Technological Dependence in the Cold War” — Essays in Economic & Business History, revised and resubmitted;
• “The Price of Neutrality: Switzerland and the U.S. Technology-Denial Campaign, 1981–1987” — Journal of Cold War Studies, submitted;
• “Mediating Technology Transfer: The Soviet Embassy and Trade Mission in Switzerland, 1950s–1980s” — Europe-Asia Studies, submitted.

Events at the host institution

Two events were organised at the host institution, ZHAW:

• presentation of the interim results of the project, research session of the Department of International Business, October 2025;
• closing seminar of the project, June 2026.

Description

All along the Cold War, Switzerland and the Soviet Union maintained commercial relations. And this despite many restrictions caused by the Iron Curtain and the climate of ideological confrontation and profound anti-communist sentiments in Swiss society. So how the trade relations between Switzerland and the Soviet Union emerged and developed between 1945 and 1991? Since this area is not studied, the present research proposes responding to this question and carrying out a detailed analysis in order to understand what Switzerland really benefited from its trade relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

This purpose requires an in-depth study of the activities of all players in the trade and economic dialogue between two countries. It is suggested to tackle the topic from the standpoint of the "hierarchy of relations" that existed at that time between Swiss companies, state authorities of both countries, trade and industry associations. I propose to analyse the direct impact of Switzerland's position concerning the export control measures towards the communist countries established by the Western bloc (CoCom) on the range of goods traded between the URSS and Switzerland of Soviet-Swiss trade throughout the Cold War. Another question that needs to be studied is the hypothesis that Swiss neutrality offers national companies more possibilities in terms of relations with the East than companies from the Western camp.

This interdisciplinary research drew on economic history, economic geography, economics, and international political economy. It demonstrates the potential to enhance the knowledge of the interactions between the economic system, the political situation, social dynamics, and cultural values since it focuses on the history of trade relations between Switzerland and the Soviet Union over the period of almost 50 years. The potential impact of the generated knowledge will allow understanding the roots, phases of development, and complexities of trade relations between Switzerland and the Soviet Union during this period. This knowledge, as well as the methodological, didactic and research skills and methods I will acquire in analysing the Swiss-Soviet trade and its transformation from a historical perspective, will be used for building collaborative research projects on commercial relations between the communist bloc countries and other neutral states such as Finland, Sweden, and Austria.

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