Swiss arms group wants to sell 96 unused tanks to Germany

Switzerland has rejected various weapons re-export requests since the start of the war in Ukraine. Keystone / Peter Schneider

State-owned armament company Ruag has submitted an official export request to sell the Leopard 1 tanks to a German company, which wants to forward them on to Ukraine.

German arms group Rheinmetall is interested in buying the vehicles in order to pass them on to Kyiv, a Ruag spokeswoman told SRF public radio on Thursday.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) confirmed to SRF that it had received the export request, but did not provide further information.

Defense Minister Viola Amherd said in parliament in mid-March that Seco had rejected a preliminary demand from Ruag to re-sell the tanks, referring to the strict Swiss weapons exports rules based on the country’s neutrality.

+ Read more: the historic ties between neutrality and commerce

However, Amherd has also previously hinted that once Switzerland’s own military needs are covered, there could be “a certain number of tanks that we will not need and that we can make available [to European partners] if parliament declares them out of service”.

Ruag’s spokeswoman said the group is now looking for clarity: “We would like an official decision from Seco so that we can better assess the business options,” she told SRF.

The vehicles in question are old ones, bought from Italy in 2016, and currently non-operational. At the time, the purchase was based on a plan to prepare the tanks – or spare parts – for further re-sale, Ruag says. They are still in Italy.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Bern has rejected various requests by Germany, Spain, and Denmark to re-export Swiss-bought military equipment to Kyiv, spurring debates in the country about relaxing neutrality and weapons export rules.