Ukrainians and Russians demonstrate together in Zug

At 5:50 p.m., Brigitte Siegrist is still standing alone on the upper Postplatz in the city of Zug. But she is convinced: “People will come to show their solidarity with Ukraine. Many have announced through my Facebook page that they will be here.” A little later, a man with numerous balloons in yellow and blue, the national colors of Ukraine, approaches from the lake. He wears a peace flag over his shoulders.

Half an hour later, around 500 people followed the call that Siegrist spontaneously launched via their network on Saturday. “It is important to me that we show solidarity in Zug with our many fellow Ukrainians. We can’t let them down now,” she says.

Siegrist is primarily known as the President of the FDP-Frauen Zug. “However, I organized this rally as a private person. I want to avoid any political paint », she emphasizes. First and foremost, she wants to stand up for her Ukrainian friends and show them that they are not alone far from home.

Just a few hundred meters away from the headquarters of Nord Stream 2, Sberbank and VTB, all of which are on the EU and US sanctions lists, people from Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Belarus and Russia meet. You are part of a fairly large community. According to the population statistics, 947 Russian and 182 Ukrainian citizens lived in the canton of Zug alone in 2020.

Natali Gretener, who has lived in neighboring Cham for twelve years, brought the Ukraine flag with her. She fears for her relatives who live in Kharkiv. “I spoke to them today. You told me about rocket attacks on neighboring houses. They fear for their lives.” She is pleased about the great solidarity that many Swiss people also express. Many of them have brought candles to show their condolences.

Suddenly a young woman joins Natali and hugs her. “This is my friend Elena. She comes from Moscow», she introduces her friend. For Elena Marconi, who lives in the canton of Lucerne, it was a matter of course to go to the rally in Zug after work. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re Ukrainians or Russians – we’re all against the war,” she explains. «I am also here because I am against Putin. He’s destroying our country.” Both women emphasize that there are no tensions between the members of the two peoples in Switzerland. “We are brother peoples and will not be separated,” confirms Natali Gretener.

Antonia Lüthi from Baar saw the call for manifestation on Whatsapp and came to Zug with her husband and two daughters. “I recently spoke to my parents who are stuck in Kyiv. They report that the impacts are getting closer and closer. Food is also becoming scarce, slowly but surely,” she reports. «The situation is very sad. But at the same time I’m very proud of our people, who are fighting back so bravely,” she says, greeting a friend who is also there with her children.

Evacuated from Ukraine

The connections between the canton of Zug with its numerous raw material companies and its financial center and Eastern Europe are close. Almost everyone who came to the Postplatz has a story to tell. So does Charlie Keiser. His son Martin has fallen in love with a Ukrainian. According to the family’s original plans, his girlfriend was to fly from Kyiv to Zurich on Monday (February 28).

“When we realized that the situation was getting tricky, we did everything we could to get Veronika out earlier,” says Keizer. It finally worked and the young woman landed safely in Geneva last Tuesday. «Two days before the invasion. We got lucky again. Now we hope that the war will soon be over and that the Ukrainians can lead a normal life again,” says Keiser.

It’s getting cold in the Postplatz. But the demonstrators persevere. Little is said. Only now and then someone shouts: «Peace to Ukraine!» On the way back to Zug’s old town, one participant says: “Hopefully the rich gentlemen who are involved in the financial center have seen that everyone is on the side of Ukraine.”