WP: Ukraine war leads to head-spinning shift in European neutrality

The Washington Post published a piece suggesting that in today's Europe, upended by Russia's rogue lawlessness, neutrality no longer equates to nothing to worry. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

It took just four days after Russian troops stormed into Ukraine last year for Switzerland to throw off centuries of its politically sacrosanct policy of neutrality and join Western sanctions against Moscow. Almost literally overnight, the government in Bern abandoned a stance that had made the peace-loving nation a playground for Vladimir Putin’s cronies and a haven for their money. Switzerland withdrew the welcome mat — freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs, closing airspace to Russian airlines and ending preferential visa rules for Russian citizens.

The head-spinning shift in Swiss policy, matched by a change in popular opinion, reflects a broader pivot in Europe, where the war in Ukraine has remade the basic strategic architecture. On April 4, Finland, neutral for decades, officially became NATO’s 31st member state. Sweden, though blocked for now by opposition from alliance member Turkey, hopes to join soon; it, too, has shed a long policy of neutrality.

Those are positive steps in countries for which Mr. Putin’s ruinous war has come as a rude awakening, and they raise a basic question: What value remains, and what message is transmitted, in clinging to neutrality in the face of an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation? As hundreds of thousands of lives are lost and millions of refugees have fled across the continent, the few remaining European countries that refuse to take sides look morally obtuse, obstructionist and arrogant to many of their allies and neighbors, and even to many of their own citizens. Refusing to reckon with Russia’s assault on international norms is rightly seen as a denial of reality.

In the face of a war that has remade Europe, embracing Western values — first and foremost, isolating the Russian aggressors and reinforcing Ukrainian sovereignty — means getting off the fence in tangible ways. That has already dawned on many in Switzerland, where the deep emotional connection to neutrality that its citizens long embraced as a hallowed feature of national life is increasingly in doubt. In a poll published last month, 55 percent of those surveyed in the Alpine republic said they favored allowing Swiss weapons — including antiaircraft ammunition — to be re-exported to Ukraine to assist in Kyiv’s defense. In the Swiss parliament, legislation to achieve that has made progress — although it still faces an uphill legal and constitutional slog that would also require a national referendum.

Even some of Switzerland’s most illustrious banks, a mainstay of the country’s economy, have favored the change in Swiss policy, including support for Western sanctions. They’ve done so despite the potential risks that shift might pose to future deposits from countries that, like Russia, might run afoul of Western policies. “Switzerland simply cannot hide itself behind an abstract concept of neutrality that refuses to view reality as it is,” Patrick Odier, chairman of the board at Lombard Odier & Co. Ltd. told the Financial Times recently.

The issue of what remains of Swiss neutrality has been a focus of European ire in recent months as France, Germany and the Netherlands have pressed Bern to allow them to send their own stocks of Swiss-made munitions to Ukraine. Germany had explicitly asked Swiss authorities, and was refused permission, to send from its own arsenals more than 12,000 Swiss-made shells for antiaircraft weapons in Ukraine. More recently, Berlin has asked to buy back some of the dozens of German-made Leopard 2 tanks now owned by the Swiss but no longer used, to replace some Germany has shipped to Ukraine. Under Swiss law, no Swiss-made weapons can be sent into countries at war, and any re-export of those arms requires the government’s permission.

Swiss President Alain Berset last month ruled out any re-export to Ukraine of weapons manufactured by his country, but domestic challenges to his stance are mounting. His call for a swift diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine seemed naive given Mr. Putin’s own explicit commitment to press the Russian invasion indefinitely.

In Austria, meanwhile, public opinion remains solidly in favor of the policy of neutrality it adopted decades ago as a condition of the withdrawal of Soviet troops after World War II. Official neutrality is also embedded in Austria’s constitution. Yet the solidity of Austria’s stance rests partly on the convenient fact that it is nearly entirely surrounded by NATO member states — and also from its own membership in the European Union. Under EU rules, members are expected to come to each other’s defense if faced with armed aggression.

Last spring, more than 50 prominent Austrians, including public intellectuals and a brigadier general, wrote an open letter calling for a reassessment of official neutrality. And there has been unease in Austria over news that a major Austrian bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, which remains the largest Western lender in Russia, has signed on to a Russian policy to grant loan repayment holidays to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Perhaps the most telling sign of increasing unease with official neutrality is that the Swiss, the Austrians and even the Irish — who say they are militarily but not politically neutral on the war in Ukraine — have announced sharp increases in defense spending. That suggests a dawning realization that in today’s Europe, upended by Russia’s marauding illegality, neutrality no longer translates into nothing to fear.

It took just four days after Russian troops stormed into Ukraine last year for Switzerland to throw off centuries of its politically sacrosanct policy of neutrality and join Western sanctions against Moscow. Almost literally overnight, the government in Bern abandoned a stance that had made the peace-loving nation a playground for Vladimir Putin’s cronies and a haven for their money. Switzerland withdrew the welcome mat — freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs, closing airspace to Russian airlines and ending preferential visa rules for Russian citizens.

The head-spinning shift in Swiss policy, matched by a change in popular opinion, reflects a broader pivot in Europe, where the war in Ukraine has remade the basic strategic architecture. On Tuesday, Finland, neutral for decades, officially became NATO’s 31st member state. Sweden, though blocked for now by opposition from alliance member Turkey, hopes to join soon; it, too, has shed a long policy of neutrality.

Those are positive steps in countries for which Mr. Putin’s ruinous war has come as a rude awakening, and they raise a basic question: What value remains, and what message is transmitted, in clinging to neutrality in the face of an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation? As hundreds of thousands of lives are lost and millions of refugees have fled across the continent, the few remaining European countries that refuse to take sides look morally obtuse, obstructionist and arrogant to many of their allies and neighbors, and even to many of their own citizens. Refusing to reckon with Russia’s assault on international norms is rightly seen as a denial of reality.

In the face of a war that has remade Europe, embracing Western values — first and foremost, isolating the Russian aggressors and reinforcing Ukrainian sovereignty — means getting off the fence in tangible ways. That has already dawned on many in Switzerland, where the deep emotional connection to neutrality that its citizens long embraced as a hallowed feature of national life is increasingly in doubt. In a poll published last month, 55 percent of those surveyed in the Alpine republic said they favored allowing Swiss weapons — including antiaircraft ammunition — to be re-exported to Ukraine to assist in Kyiv’s defense. In the Swiss parliament, legislation to achieve that has made progress — although it still faces an uphill legal and constitutional slog that would also require a national referendum.

Even some of Switzerland’s most illustrious banks, a mainstay of the country’s economy, have favored the change in Swiss policy, including support for Western sanctions. They’ve done so despite the potential risks that shift might pose to future deposits from countries that, like Russia, might run afoul of Western policies. “Switzerland simply cannot hide itself behind an abstract concept of neutrality that refuses to view reality as it is,” Patrick Odier, chairman of the board at Lombard Odier & Co. Ltd. told the Financial Times recently.

The issue of what remains of Swiss neutrality has been a focus of European ire in recent months as France, Germany and the Netherlands have pressed Bern to allow them to send their own stocks of Swiss-made munitions to Ukraine. Germany had explicitly asked Swiss authorities, and was refused permission, to send from its own arsenals more than 12,000 Swiss-made shells for antiaircraft weapons in Ukraine. More recently, Berlin has asked to buy back some of the dozens of German-made Leopard 2 tanks now owned by the Swiss but no longer used, to replace some Germany has shipped to Ukraine. Under Swiss law, no Swiss-made weapons can be sent into countries at war, and any re-export of those arms requires the government’s permission.

Swiss President Alain Berset last month ruled out any re-export to Ukraine of weapons manufactured by his country, but domestic challenges to his stance are mounting. His call for a swift diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine seemed naive given Mr. Putin’s own explicit commitment to press the Russian invasion indefinitely.

In Austria, meanwhile, public opinion remains solidly in favor of the policy of neutrality it adopted decades ago as a condition of the withdrawal of Soviet troops after World War II. Official neutrality is also embedded in Austria’s constitution. Yet the solidity of Austria’s stance rests partly on the convenient fact that it is nearly entirely surrounded by NATO member states — and also from its own membership in the European Union. Under EU rules, members are expected to come to each other’s defense if faced with armed aggression.

Last spring, more than 50 prominent Austrians, including public intellectuals and a brigadier general, wrote an open letter calling for a reassessment of official neutrality. And there has been unease in Austria over news that a major Austrian bank, Raiffeisen Bank International, which remains the largest Western lender in Russia, has signed on to a Russian policy to grant loan repayment holidays to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Perhaps the most telling sign of increasing unease with official neutrality is that the Swiss, the Austrians and even the Irish — who say they are militarily but not politically neutral on the war in Ukraine — have announced sharp increases in defense spending. That suggests a dawning realization that in today’s Europe, upended by Russia’s marauding illegality, neutrality no longer translates into nothing to fear.