‘Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja

 

DAILY COURIER – Swiss neutrality is more important than ever, President Alain Berset has said, defending the  controversial ban on transferring Swiss-made arms to Ukraine.

 

“Swiss weapons must not be used in wars,” he told the NZZ am Sonntag weekly.

 

The long tradition of neutrality has been hotly debated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

 

Despite pressure from Kyiv and its allies, Switzerland has continued to block countries that hold Swiss-made weaponry from re-exporting it to Ukraine.

 

To date, requests from Germany, Spain and Denmark have ben rejected under the War Materiel Act, which bars all re-export if the recipient country is in an international armed conflict.

 

Berset told NZZ the policy was based on “commitment to peace, to humanitarian law, to mediation where possible”.

 

Switzerland dismantling missiles instead of sending them to Ukraine: Report

 

Switzerland is scrapping outdated Rapier surface-to-air missiles that could have been used by Ukraine to shoot down low-flying targets, Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports.

 

A spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement (Armasuisse) said that all Rapier short-range anti-aircraft missile systems would be dismantled, NZZ reported on Saturday.

 

The Swiss government prohibits countries that purchase Swiss arms from re-exporting them without permission. In February, the Swiss government refused to let Spain transfer Swiss-made anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine.