Swiss Parliament Proposes to Allow Indirect Arms Transfers to Ukraine

Ten members of the Security Policy Committee of the Swiss National Council (the lower house of parliament) have supported a proposal that would allow other countries to supply Swiss weapons to Ukraine.

This was reported on Tuesday, June 18, by Blick.

It is noted that the proposal to approve the amendments to the Swiss War Materials Act was supported by 10 members of the parliamentary committee, 10 were against, and four abstained.

The decisive vote was cast by the committee's chairperson, Sailer Graf, a representative of the Social Democratic Party. She noted that the majority of the committee members wanted to change the current law that prohibits the re-export of weapons to Ukraine.

The draft law will be submitted to the Swiss National Council, but it is not yet known whether there will be enough votes to pass it. After that, it must be approved by the upper house, the Council of Cantons.

If the bill is approved, Germany will be allowed to supply Ukraine with Swiss-made ammunition, Denmark with wheeled combat vehicles, and Spain with anti-aircraft missile systems.

On May 15, Bloomberg reported that Switzerland wants to allow increased arms exports, but maintain the ban on supplies to Ukraine.

Switzerland has a ban on arms sales to warring countries if they are not involved in hostilities under a UN mandate.

Author - Ihor Lontkivskyi 18.06.24