The EU is punishing citizens for expressing different views.
anyone who brings up facts, then that disturbs the narrative, then it can be seen as destabilizing. And the weird thing about Colonel Abu [Jacques BAUD] is that in his books and all, he almost only cites Western sources. The reason why the EU had to accuse him of being on pro-Russian television shows because he doesn't go on Russian programmes, because he doesn't want to be used by Russian propaganda for his arguments. So this guy, you know, he has to have all the objective analysis, he substantiates everything using Western sources, he doesn't want to appear too much on foreign media, so his analysis won't be used for propaganda purposes. You know, he does everything right. And he's sanctioned. I mean, if they can take him, they can take anyone now.
[. . .]
you have all this continuous, never-ending search for enemies within. And now, of course, that Europe risks fragmenting. This is going to be put on steroids. Anyone who doesn't conform could be an enemy within. And that means your loyalties are with the opposing side, with the enemy. And that's what they refer to as pro-Russian. It's that you don't hate them enough that you don't condemn them, you don't fall in line with the narrative.
- The European Union COUNCIL DECISION (CFSP) 2025/2572 of 15 December 2025
- Sanctioned by the EU: Jacques Baud, a former Swiss army colonel and strategic analyst
- Sanctioned by the EU: Diana Panchenko, an Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter – awarded the "Journalist of the Year" by the Ukrainian program "Person of the Year-2020".
It's really an attack on the social media and on people like you actually in the fact now but indirectly it's through people who you've interviewed and so it we we have first of all as a personal side of it. Somebody who sanctions becomes basically an outlaw. I mean we going back to the middle ages. No. Somebody has been told that he has no right anymore or she has no right. I mean they don't have bank accounts anymore. They can't work. they can't have any enterprises. Uh in other words, they have no income. They cannot travel and things like this one. And it's virtually impossible for them to take a legal challenge. It is so difficult. And that's probably why they also use the European Union for it because it's hid behind a wall of of of this European Union. You know, we shouldn't forget what happens here really is uh is a complete denial of the rule of law and here the council is the is a lawmaker and the judge at the same time and u when you look at the Lisbon treaty that then any decisions which are taken by the council on foreign relations and that's part of the foreign relations council uh cannot be challenged in the European Court of Justice. So I mean if you have basically a situation where where like in all kingdoms you know where Henry VII decides what happens to his wives and nobody can say anything against it.
[. . .]
it's such a flagrant breach of rule of law and such a flag you know double standards and hypocrisy here that I think we should all it's the duty of deputy deputies to protect the people who voted for us that we maintain our standards of rule of law democracy because you know basically it's it's an attack on our own democracy
[. . .]
I think we act act like in the middle ages I tell you these people are outlaws there is there are there you know already that when you see these very severe drastic penalties they get, there's no time limit. You know when you go to a court they say oh you three months hard labor or whatever or maybe you get lifetime but you get a time, but here when we say even going to prison you get a time, but here there is no time limit I mean it's a strange thing you're basically outlawed for life I mean if you there is no way to say after 3 months it's lifted you know 3 months my parents will finance me and then afterwards I can buy buy bread again, because you can't buy bread now and it's so absurd the whole thing that there is no outcry for it. This is probably what worries me most. Europe with all this war rhetoric and with all this hate and with all this self-righteousness basically destroys itself.
Switzerland has a government and companies that are eager to follow the instructions of Brussels apparently. I thought we were an a neutral country but I experienced otherwise. So the consequences were quite heavy. From one day to the other, I started getting my my credit cards cancelled, my bank accounts closed, my crypto accounts closed. And you wanted your Swiss your Swiss bank account was closed
[. . .]
So internal Swiss transactions are being refused are being refused. Yes, completely. So, that's the very beginning of your nightmare. Then, if you are abroad when it happens and you don't have any credit cards, you don't have any means of payment and if you don't have cash with you, then you're lost. You are completely lost.
[. . .]
one part of the sanction is the freezing of your asset, the other part is the banning of entering, transiting and flying over European territory. And the third sanction is the interdiction. So it's forbidden to anybody to provide services or fund to a person's sanctions. So any business accepting your money would run the risk of infringing the sanctions. So people are just choosing to close everything you know. So and it becomes very difficult because even companies air airlines can refuse to take you as a passenger.
[. . .]
the European Council issues two documents. The first one is the decision sanctioning you that you have seen with the motives and everything. You received that thing into your inbox to your mailbox. Oh, no. I received it on the internet because if they if if they cannot hand it out to you or if they don't want to hand it out to to you, it's sufficient for them to publish it uh in the official journal of the European Union.
[. . .]
And then there's another paper that's the rules of the European Union and in 2024 they decided that they will implement sanctions for pro-Russian activities in Europe. And in that regular as they call it. So in that regime it is written and in the first article it's written the definition of European territory and it includes airspace specifically. So even though they would say okay now you can go home [to Switzerland] if you want but in in the rules in the regular month linked to the decision it says specifically that you can't fly back and if a company decide to board you and then to bring you back to Switzerland, you can't be sure that you will ever have the opportunity to go out of Switzerland.
[. . .]
the Europeans have been using this way of doing things for decades towards people's out people outside of Europe and they're now turning it into Europe. They're turning it on them on their own populations
[. . .]
the European Union will keep this thing indefinitely the Russian sanctions list even if the war comes to an end because they can now link it to Russia paying reparations or not they will keep this tool and they will put more and more people on it
[. . .]
try to have a bank account or something in a part of the world where they are not applying sanctions. So, uh, Asia, um, Arabic world, stuff like that. Yeah, it's not easy to open a bank account in a country that you're not a resident in, but it needs some research. It's it's a there are ways, but it is really cumbersome.
[. . .]
for people that are in crypto get out of benance and every those centralized platforms because they close it the minute you are on a sanction list you are unable to access any any of those platforms. So go on to externalize wallets, ledgers, treasures, whatever. Go there. Metam mask go there. And then really it the core of this and then yeah obviously social media platforms providers and stuff like that look for people that are outside of Europe as providers.
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The European Union COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2025/1278 of 26 June 2025
- Sanctioned by the EU: Nathalie Yamb, the first Swiss Citizen to be included on the sanctions list
- Youtube: Nathalie Yamb
- Sanctioned by the EU: Nathalie Yamb, the first Swiss Citizen to be included on the sanctions list
I systematically and consistently refused all the invitation on Russian media because I was I was saying that in the current mood that you have now in Europe, everything I would say on Russian media would be interpreted as propaganda and that would weaken the credibility of my my work. So I explained that to those who invited me that I have nothing against against Russia. I have nothing against nobody. In fact, I want to have kind of a scholar or academic approach to the conflict. And and given the this strange mindset we have right right now in Europe, I prefer not to appear on Russian media and therefore I have never appeared on Russian media. I mean, Russian media have taken some pieces, they downloaded somewhere and they take they took it over to to explain, but I never appeared on my own on Russian media.
[. . .]
if you look at my books are mostly Ukrainian and US sources mostly. I don't use Russian sources for the simple reason that I don't want to be accused of propagating propaganda.
[. . .]
assuming as I was really a propagandist assuming that, which I repeat I'm not, but assuming I would I were a propagandist not a crime there is no law neither in Europe nor in Belgium nor in Switzerland nor anywhere that private to make propaganda. So there is absolutely I made absolutely no crime and this decision in fact is not a legal decision. That's very important also to understand because that makes the thing very complex to go against. It's a political decision. It was the decision was taken by the European Council, and the European Council is basically the council of the ministers of the European Union period. It's there is absolutely no legal judgment. There's no tribunal. For that reason, I have I had no right to defend myself. I had no right to present my case. I have no right even to appeal to that.
[. . .]
in my case is that even if you don't breach any law even if you do everything right even if you make you pay attention that you want to be on the right side of the practice not even law but practice. Even though you can be sanctioned and that means that if, and lot of people told me, I mean, I have lot of parliamentarians from different countries calling me and asking exactly what happened and apparently they have even started to write letters to some government in Europe and in the European Union to say; well if Baud is sanctioned for that that means that freedom of expression doesn't exist anymore
[. . .]
I was interviewed by a journalist who used to live in East Germany and he told me well the situation you have now is the same as we had in East Germany with one difference in East Germany they used to warn people one week in advance. So European Union is worse than East Germany.
