The representative of the German Defense Ministry, Arne Kollats, noted that the German Defense Ministry sent a request to Switzerland for the purchase of Leopard 2 tanksBERLIN, March 3.
/tass/. The German Ministry of Defense is negotiating with partners on the supply of Leopard tanks Ukraine. This was stated by the representative of the German Defense Ministry Arne Kollats on Friday at a briefing in Berlin.
"I can confirm negotiations with many partners," Kollats said, answering the relevant question. He noted that the German Defense Ministry sent a request to Switzerland for the purchase of Leopard 2 tanks, specifying that they would not be intended for Ukraine. According to the representative of the department, Switzerland sees no military reasons not to decommission its Leopard 2 army, but the parliament in Bern will have to decide whether to transfer them to Germany.
Earlier, the Swiss newspaper Blick, citing a letter from the head of the German Ministry of Economy Robert Habeck and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, reported that Germany had asked Switzerland to sell Leopard 2 tanks to the German defense concern Rheinmetall, which manufactured them to replace equipment that had previously been transferred to Ukraine. We are talking about 96 decommissioned tanks of the Swiss army. German politicians appealed to the head of the Federal Department (Minister) of Defense, Population Protection and Sports of Switzerland Viola Amherd with a request to approve the sale. At the same time, they assured the minister that these tanks would not be transferred to Kiev: they are needed to fill in the "gaps" in the NATO and EU countries.
The Swiss defense Ministry, according to the newspaper, noted that, "from the point of view of the army, in principle, it would be possible to do with a limited number of combat tanks," while the country itself needs 34 decommissioned tanks. Currently, 134 upgraded Leopard 2s are in service. The transfer of equipment to Germany will require the permission of the Swiss Parliament. According to the newspaper, "political debates" may flare up around the transfer of tanks.
