Dhe ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank, which was once manufactured in Switzerland, is not allowed to be passed on to Ukraine by Germany. A spokesman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Bern confirmed this to the FAZ. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced on Tuesday that she intended to deliver tanks of this type that had been decommissioned by the Bundeswehr to the Ukraine.
In this context, SECO received a request from Germany to pass on 35 millimeter ammunition for the cheetah. The office announced that this had already happened in March – weeks before Lambrecht’s announcement. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk told RTL/ntv on Wednesday that his country had asked about the cheetah in Berlin in the early days of the war, but was told it was pointless because the necessary ammunition was lacking. Kyiv was “completely surprised” by the change of heart by the federal government.
A second request to Switzerland apparently concerned 12.7 millimeter ammunition. Both requests were rejected with reference to Swiss neutrality and the mandatory rejection criteria of Swiss war material legislation, said the SECO spokesman.
The ammunition for the cheetah was once produced by the Zurich company Oerlikon-Bührle. When it was delivered, Germany had to undertake not to pass it on without Swiss consent. The fact that the Swiss refuse to do so is explained by the legal constraints arising from the aforementioned War Material Act and the applicable law of neutrality. Accordingly, Switzerland may not authorize the export of war material to countries that are “involved in an internal or international armed conflict”.
There was also criticism from Switzerland for the ban on passing on ammunition. The President of the Christian Democratic Center Party (formerly CVP), Gerhard Pfister, spoke of “abandoned aid” and suggested that the government in Bern should allow the deliveries, citing extraordinary circumstances to protect foreign and security policy interests, by means of an emergency decree . According to SECO’s assessment, the legal situation does not allow this: emergency law only applies if there is no clear legal regulation. This is not the case here.