GENEVA (AFP) – Switzerland again refused to transfer arms to Ukraine on Wednesday, this time rejecting the export of almost 100 Leopard 1 tanks belonging to state arms company RUAG.
Despite pressure from Kyiv and its allies, Switzerland has so far not allowed countries that hold Swiss-made weaponry to re-export it to Ukraine. Switzerland’s Federal Council said the export of 96 Leopard 1 A5 tanks was “not possible under the law as it stands”.
“Such a sale would contravene the War Materiel Act and would result in a shift from Switzerland’s policy of neutrality,” it said.
The War Materiel Act bars all re-export if the recipient country is in an international armed conflict.
The Federal Council said it had “given priority to Switzerland’s commitments as a neutral country and to the reliability of its application of the rule of law”.
The landlocked country of 8.8 million people has a long-standing position of well-armed military neutrality.
