Swiss manufacturing ‘contributes to Russian war machine’

Russian guns are being made using Swiss machine tools Investigative Committee Of Russia

Swiss machinery is manufacturing Kalashnikovs and other weapons in Russia, an investigation by Swiss public broadcaster SRF has revealed.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

These high-precision machine tools are contributing to Vladimir Putin’s war effort, despite sanctions imposed by Switzerland.

In a Russian arms factory, AK-12 Kalashnikovs, the standard rifle of Putin’s army used in the war against Ukraine, are manufactured with machine tools from the Swiss company GF. This is the disturbing detail that appears in a propaganda video of the company.

+ Debunking Russian propaganda on Switzerland

When contacted, the Schaffhausen manufacturer claims to have delivered them before 2018, well before the invasion of Ukraine. “No sanctions or other export control regulations have been violated in this context,” it said.

Third country transit

SRFExternal link has analyzed Russian customs data for the first time and found that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, more than one hundred machine tools from Swiss manufacturers have found their way to Russia, despite sanctions.

This was made possible by their transit via third countries, mainly Turkey. For example, in 2023, the manufacturer Tornos, based in Moutier, delivered two machines to a Turkish importer, which was only a shell company. The machines were quickly shipped to Russia.

The manufacturer from the Bernese Jura defended itself: “Tornos complies with the laws and directives in force […] We categorically refuse any use of our products for inappropriate purposes.”

Necessary progress

According to the industry’s umbrella organisation Swissmem, Swiss companies have nothing to reproach themselves for. “Despite all the checks carried out by Seco and all the precautionary measures taken by the companies concerned, it is indeed possible that in certain cases, when a foreign buyer is involved and has a lot of criminal energy, he can circumvent the sanctions,” said director Stefan Brupbacher.

But the NGO Transparency International insists that Swiss manufacturers can do better. “Companies must integrate accompanying measures in order to really be able to minimise the risk,” said interim managing director Katja Gloor.

In any case, if the sanctions prevent direct exports to Russia, there are many ways around them.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].