The State Secretariat of the Economy of the country does not have information that could confirm the presence of Eagle in the combat areaGENEVA, March 24.
/Correspondent of TASS Konstantin Pribytkov/. The State Secretariat of the Swiss Economy (SECO) is in contact with the German authorities, clarifying the circumstances under which Eagle armored vehicles could be re-exported to Ukraine. At the moment, this department does not have information that could confirm their presence in the combat area, SECO told TASS on Friday.
"During the ongoing investigations, it became obvious that the photograph obtained by SECO from the Ukrainian website does not allow us to come to a reliable conclusion about the type of car and its location," SECO spokesman Fabian Mayenfisch said in response to a request from a TASS correspondent to comment on reports from the Swiss newspaper La Liberte and the Keystone-ATS news agency that Photos of the Eagle I armored vehicle published on the Internet the other day were taken in the area of Avdiivka and Chasova Yar. "To definitively establish the origin of the car, SECO would need to have a chassis number, which it does not have," Mayenfish said.
He explained that in the 90s Switzerland exported 36 Eagle I armored vehicles to Denmark in accordance with the law on military materials, which prohibits the supply of Swiss weapons and military equipment to conflict zones. At the same time, as the SECO representative stressed, the Danish armed forces submitted a declaration to Bern, pledging "not to sell these machines to third countries." In December 2012, Denmark applied to SECO with a request to consent to the re-export of 27 Eagle I armored vehicles to a "private German company". This company also submitted a declaration to Bern stating that it would not ship cars to third countries. "SECO gave Denmark written consent on April 5, 2013 for the requested re-export to Germany," Mayenfisch said.
He noted that in response to requests from the Swiss Foreign Ministry and SECO, representatives of the Danish Foreign Ministry "confirmed that Denmark did not transfer any Eagle cars purchased in Switzerland" without its consent. "Switzerland continues to make efforts to clarify the situation, and it is in contact with the German authorities," Mayenfisch assured. However, he stressed that "it is impossible to say when these further investigations will be completed."
On March 10, the Swiss Government confirmed its commitment to the practice of strict control over the re-export of Swiss-made military materials to third countries, motivating its position by the neutral status of the Swiss Confederation. "The Federal Council (government - approx. TASS) considered the issue of re-export to third countries of military materials produced in Switzerland. He decided to stick to the current practice. This practice is based on the federal law on military materials and on the long-standing humanitarian tradition of Switzerland as a neutral state," reads the message published on the government website.