Jue, May 25th 2023
The Swiss government on Wednesday approved the controversial sale of 25 mothballed Swiss Leopard 2 tanks to Germany – the move will allow Germany to send tanks from their own reserves onto Ukraine.
The Swiss military currently has 134 in-service Leopard 2 tanks and 96 in military storage. The Swiss Parliament had to first declare the tanks formally “out of service” before selling 25 of them back to manufacturer Rheinmetall, who will then sell them to Germany.
“There would be no onward transfer of the battle tanks to Ukraine,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Defense Ministry (VBS) said in March. “Discussions on this issue are currently under way in parliament.” (Read more: How Swiss arms came to be at the center of the Russo-Ukrainian war).
The sale will not be completed before the fall and the earliest possible date Switzerland will physically ship the tanks is early next year. Germany has promised not to send the Swiss tanks to Ukraine in line with Switzerland’s War Materials Act – a cornerstone of the country’s neutrality.
Parliament’s Security Policy Committee was divided for months over whether the sale of mothballed tanks is more important to Europe’s overall security or if the sale is a step away from Switzerland’s longstanding neutrality.
“If we can help Ukraine indirectly in this way, I believe we also have a responsibility here to make our contribution to the security architecture of Europe,” Swiss security commission member Maja Riniker told Swiss public television SRF.
“Switzerland hasn’t got an up-to-date defense strategy,” Swiss People’s Party (SVP) council member David Zuberbühler told SWI SwissInfo. “We don’t know what the army of tomorrow will look like. Therefore, the tanks shouldn’t be flogged off abroad.”
The members of the right-wing SVP have been outspoken against Switzerland taking any steps away from a traditional definition of neutrality – including imposing sanctions on Russia and finding loopholes in its War Materials Act. (Read more: The War on Swiss neutrality).
Despite Switzerland mirroring all the EU’s sanctions on Russia since the war began more than one year ago, the sale of tanks is the first time the Swiss government has technically backed Ukraine in its defense efforts.
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