Switzerland Resells Its Tanks To Germany: I will not hand it over to Ukraine

Switzerland Resells Its Tanks To Germany.Switzerland has decided to sell back some of its military’s German-made tanks to manufacturers and delivered the first batch to Germany.

According to the Swiss federal government on the 31st (local time), nine Leopard 2 tanks owned by the Swiss army were transported to Germany by train that day. The manufacturer of Leopard 2 is Rheinmetall, a German military company.

The quantity delivered this time is part of the 25 Leopard 2 tanks that the Swiss Federal Council approved for re-export to Germany in November last year. Switzerland, a neutral country, has been considering re-exporting Leopard 2 tanks at the request of the German government.

After providing tanks to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia, Germany asked the Swiss Army to sell surplus tanks back to maintain its defense capabilities. The Swiss Army has 230 Leopard 2 tanks, of which 96 are virtually retired. Since this tank is not a Swiss-made tank, reselling it does not violate Switzerland’s war materials law.

Swiss war materials law prohibits domestically produced weapons from being imported into conflict zones. This is why, after the Ukraine War, Western countries requested permission to re-export Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, but Switzerland refused.

Switzerland continued to worry about the issue of Leopard 2 re-export, which was not directly related to these regulations. If the country that purchased the re-exported weapons directly sends them to a conflict zone, they may become embroiled in controversy even if the weapons are not Swiss-made.

The concern was that Switzerland was effectively providing indirect support to the parties involved in the dispute. Taking this into account, Germany and Leopard 2 manufacturer Rheinmetall promised the Swiss side, “We will not send tanks to Ukraine, even indirectly, and will only use them to strengthen Germany’s defense capabilities.”

Some in the Swiss Federal Council were of the opinion that the sale was hasty as even retired tanks should have no gaps in national defense capabilities, but Germany’s request was accepted based on the majority opinion that the diplomatic value of re-exporting tanks was greater.

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