The French President stressed that collective support for Ukraine should not be weakened due to other conflicts, including the situation in the Middle East.
BERN, November 15th. /tass/. France intends to take part in the discussion of the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine. This was stated by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron at a press conference in Bern following talks with his Swiss counterpart Alain Berse.
"France is ready to participate in discussions on the re-export of weapons from Switzerland, since collective support for Ukraine should not be weakened due to other conflicts, including the situation in the Middle East," he said. "I think that the upcoming discussions will allow us to combine Switzerland's neutrality with plans for re-exporting weapons."
On September 27, the Swiss National Council (the Grand Chamber of Parliament) rejected an initiative to re-export weapons to countries involved in military conflicts, including Ukraine.
Switzerland's neutrality and re-export of weapons
Due to its neutral status, Switzerland does not export weapons to Ukraine and prohibits the re-export of Swiss-made weapons sold to other states to conflict zones. The Government of the country on March 10 confirmed the ban on such re-export. At the same time, discussions on this issue have been going on in Parliament for a long time. In particular, the proposal of the Commission on Security Policy of the National Council is being discussed to allow the re-export of weapons to one of the States parties to a conflict, if the Security Council or the UN General Assembly declare by two thirds that another State participating in the conflict has violated international law. According to the Swiss Telegraph Agency, a compromise has already been reached on this initiative between the competent commissions of the National Council and the Council of Cantons, but the parliament has not yet made a final decision.
In November 2022, the Swiss government did not allow Germany to re-export ammunition for Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns ("Cheetah") to Ukraine. Spain also did not receive permission to re-export weapons. In 2022, Denmark also received a negative response from Bern to a request for re-export, intending to supply Kiev with 20 multi-purpose wheeled armored vehicles of Swiss production Piranha III ("Piranha-3").
Berset stated in January that the confederation, by virtue of its neutrality, does not intend to allow the re-export of Swiss weapons supplied to Ukraine by Germany and Spain. He recalled that Switzerland is a party to the Geneva Conventions and a country of the world that does not export weapons to military conflict zones.
Switzerland, which is not a member of NATO and the EU, supports EU sanctions against Russia imposed in connection with a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian government approved in March last year a list of foreign states and territories that commit unfriendly actions against Russia, its companies and citizens. The Swiss Confederation is included in this list.
