Switzerland said Thursday that it has to date frozen a total of 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.9 billion) in Russian assets, in connection with the sanctions imposed over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The amount, which has been fluctuating for months, is nearly one billion francs more than the figure provided by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in July. Switzerland, a favoured destination for wealthy Russians and their assets, has also seen 15 Russian properties seized, it said. Erwin Bollinger, in charge of bilateral economic relations at SECO, stressed to reporters that the amount frozen at any given time does not necessarily “reflect the efficacy of the sanctions.”