Swiss parliament refuses to allow re-export of weapons to Ukraine

The Upper House of the Swiss Parliament has rejected the proposal to re-export weapons.

The Council of Cantons did not allow the supply of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, mil.in.ua reports.

This is stated on the website of the Parliament of Switzerland.

This decision was made on March 6, after several hours of debate.

The proposal, put forward by Thierry Burkart, representative of the Liberals, suggested lifting the ban on re-exporting military equipment to countries “which are committed to Swiss values and have an export control regime comparable to that of Switzerland.”

Presenting his proposal in the parliament, Burkart reminded: Germany, Spain, and Denmark had already asked Switzerland for permission to re-export and were refused. According to him, this position annoys Switzerland’s partners.

The majority of the members of the Security Commission at the Council of Cantons recommended voting against Burkart’s proposal, explaining that it is better to adopt the necessary amendments to the legislation through a parliamentary initiative.

Also, some members of the Council of Cantons did not wish to allow re-export due to fears that upon that Switzerland would lose its reputation as a neutral country.

Ultimately, 23 Swiss parliamentarians voted against Thierry Burkart’s proposal, 18 voted in favor, and two abstained.

Previously, Switzerland did not allow Spain to supply Ukraine with Swiss-made GDF-007 anti-aircraft guns.

Germany intends to purchase the Leopard 2 tanks stored in Switzerland. Rheinmetall is negotiating the purchase of Leopard 1 tanks that previously belonged to Italy with the Swiss company RUAG.

As previously reported, Switzerland is considering sending its military equipment to Ukraine’s allies so that they could transfer similar weapons to Kyiv from their own stockpiles.