Beware ‘neutrality fetishism’ warns ex-Swiss ambassador to Kyiv

Claude Wild served as Swiss ambassador to Kyiv between 2019 and the end of 2022. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Allowing countries to re-export weapons to Ukraine would be in Switzerland’s security interests, says the former Swiss ambassador to Kyiv.

“We have no interest in becoming useful idiots for an aggressor,” Claude Wild said in an interview with the broadcaster Tele Züri on Monday.

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Switzerland has resisted growing demands to allow other countries to send munitions to Ukraine that have been manufactured in the Alpine state.

The government and parliament maintain that this would involve Switzerland in the armed conflict and violate its stance of political neutrality.

But Wild, who served as ambassador to Kyiv between 2019 and the end of last year, warns against falling into “neutrality fetishism”.

This includes the question of weapons re-exports. “We must ask whether this policy is actually in Switzerland’s security interests,” the diplomat said.

Under current law, arms purchased in Switzerland by another country must not be passed on to third parties. This policy has been strongly criticised at home and abroad as notably Germany, Denmark as well as Spain want to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition originating from Switzerland.

Last year, when he was still ambassador to Ukraine, Wild emphasised the difference between neutrality and indifference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Switzerland “is not neutral: we apply neutrality law, that’s different,” he told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

That law states that Switzerland “does not join a military alliance, and does not send weapons to the conflict zone, even to support the victims”.

But allowing other countries to export Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine is a controversial issue that appears open to interpretation.

Wild was appointed Switzerland’s permanent representative on the Council of Europe this year. He was replaced in Kyiv by Félix Baumann.