Covert Munitions Trafficking in Switzerland-Poland-Ukraine Triangle
The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs has imposed sanctions on a Polish company that jeopardized the historic neutrality of the Swiss Confederation by re-exporting, despite all bans, 645,000 “Made in Switzerland” bullets to Ukraine, a country at war
The revelations by journalists from the German-language Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) have left political leaders of the Swiss Confederation in awe. Despite the strictest bans, special ammunition for snipers, produced by Swiss P Defense, formerly Ruag Ammotec, ended up in Ukraine. It used 645,000 rounds of two different calibers of ammunition.
The trafficking was organized by the Polish-based company UMO SP, which purchased the bullets. After receiving indisputable evidence from SRF journalists of a covert operation that jeopardized the Alpine country’s historic neutrality, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) imposed sanctions on the Polish company, which was blacklisted and will no longer be able to purchase military equipment in Switzerland.
According to SRF’s investigative journalism, “the sale was authorized by SECO itself in November 2022 and May 2023.” According to Bern, Swiss P Defense was not aware of the Polish company’s intentions. Indeed, the prohibition on re-exports was explicitly stated in the agreement. Nevertheless, Poland’s UMO shipped the shells to Ukraine in mid-July last year, just four days after receiving the shipment.
“The Swiss government,” SRF writes, “does not authorize the export of military equipment to countries involved in armed conflicts, as the Federal Council has already repeatedly stated in the first months of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, when several requests from Kiev were deliberately rejected.”
