ZURICH, January 24 – RIA Novosti. The Swiss parliamentary commission approved legislative changes that would allow the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine through third countries.

“The Security Policy Commission of the National Council, by a vote of 11 to 14, approved the proposal and parliamentary initiative on the re-export of military equipment. In case of violation of the ban, applications for non-re-exports may be revoked. In a message published on the Swiss Parliament’s website, according to international law on the use of force”.

As noted, the Russia-Ukraine conflict falls under this criterion.

The amendment to the law will give the Swiss government the opportunity to revoke a non-re-export declaration of a country that has purchased military supplies from the confederation. In particular, we are talking about cases where the UN Security Council declared a violation of the prohibition on the use of force prescribed by international law.

At the same time, the Swiss government will be able to maintain a ban on re-exports if its revocation goes against the country’s foreign policy interests.

Reportedly, most of the commissioners felt that Switzerland should contribute to European security and support Ukraine. According to the parliamentarians, the amendments are in line with Swiss neutrality law, as the amendments “do not allow the direct export of military supplies to conflict zones, but only concern declarations not to be re-exported by countries purchasing Swiss military supplies.” ”

At the same time, a minority of parliamentarians believe that the re-export of Swiss military equipment to Ukraine is problematic in terms of neutrality, that is, the principle of equal treatment provided for by the neutrality law.

Previously, Switzerland had rejected requests by Germany, Spain and Denmark to re-export confederate-produced ammunition to Ukraine. As authorities have emphasized, Switzerland may refuse to re-export military supplies if the intended country is involved in an international armed conflict.

Russia had previously sent a note to NATO countries for arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation reported that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin described his goal as “protecting people who have been subjected to eight years of bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime.” For this, according to him, it is planned to “disarm and demilitarize Ukraine” so that all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in Donbass are brought to justice.