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Swiss parliamentary committee backs Ukraine aid plan

Swiss parliament
The Swiss parliament in Bern KEYSTONE/KEYSTONE

A Swiss parliamentary committee has voted to back a CHF5 billion ($5.5 billion) aid contribution for Ukraine as part of a broader package aimed at boosting neutral Switzerland's defence capabilities.

Backed by lawmakers from centre-left and centre-right parties, the security committee of the Senate on Thursday approved the package, which will provide CHF10.1 billion ($11.1 billion) in additional funds for the army, along with the Ukraine sum.

The plan, which still faces a series of parliamentary hurdles before it can become law, passed by eight votes to five, with right-wing parties opposing the deal.

In a statement, parliament said the multi-billion dollar package was conceived as an extraordinary contribution toward the security of Switzerland and “peace in Europe” because of the war being waged by Russia against Ukraine.

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Switzerland is under pressure from Western allies to do more to help Ukraine even as right-wing nationalists in parliament press for the country to remain strictly neutral.

The Ukraine part of the package intends to support the reconstruction and repair of day-to-day infrastructure necessary for life and survival in Ukraine, parliament said.

The committee voted through the plan less than two months before Switzerland is due to host a high-level international conference aimed at helping to bring peace to Ukraine.

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Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/ts

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. 

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