Switzerland blocks German weapons plan in Ukraine

RT – Switzerland has allegedly thwarted German plans to re-export locally-made ammunition to Ukraine, local media reported on Sunday, citing the country’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The Alpine nation cited its neutral status and legislation banning weapons deliveries to conflict zones.

The fact that the Dusseldorf-based car and weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall, which builds Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for the German army, uses Swiss-produced ammunition has apparently emerged as an obstacle to Berlin’s latest plans to supply ammunition to Kiev.

“Seco received two requests from Germany to pass ammunition [que] previously received from Switzerland to Ukraine,” the secretariat confirmed to Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung on Sunday. Both requests “were rejected with reference to Swiss neutrality and the criteria for rejecting legislation on military equipment,” the Swiss authorities added.

Swiss law requires Bern to give its consent to any re-export of weapons and prohibits deliveries of weapons to conflict zones. Switzerland has adhered to anti-Russia sanctions in a rare departure from its strict policy of neutrality after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine, but has still been adamant in its neutrality when it comes to any military aid to Ukraine.

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According to the media, the Swiss veto on the re-export of ammunition has sparked anger in Germany for allegedly making it impossible to send any IFV Marder to Ukraine. Berlin never officially announced any of these plans, however.

The German government has been criticized by other NATO members, particularly Poland, for allegedly not doing enough to support Ukraine. The issue even caused some tensions within the cabinet.

In early April, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would only send “correct and reasonable” weapons to Kiev, adding that there were no plans to send “offensive” weapons such as tanks, which Ukraine has repeatedly requested. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock then urged the West to supply Kiev with heavy weaponry and appeared to criticize Scholz, stressing that “now is not the time for apologies”.

Initially, Berlin supplied Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. In mid-March, Germany said that, due to security risks, it would not release further information on arms supplies to Ukraine. In mid-April, Berlin announced that it would allocate an additional $2.1 billion for military spending, most of it going towards aid to Ukraine.

On Saturday, however, a group of German politicians and public figures, including former lawmakers and a former UN Deputy Secretary-General, called on their government to stop delivering military aid to Ukraine and instead work to convince Kiev to abandon its military resistance in the region. name of peace and dialogue.

Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February after Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk accords, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The protocols mediated by Germany and France were designed to give breakaway regions a special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely spontaneous and denied claims it planned to retake the two republics by force.

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