Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

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Rifle-making machines for Putin

Goods category: Described as dual-use machines in the German proceedings; the exact Swiss Goods Control Act list position is not published.

Portrait of Vladimir Putin.

CC BY 4.0

In 2015, a German managing director of a company in Baden-Württemberg and a Swiss holding company supplied six used machine tools to a Russian arms manufacturer: five through a third-party company in Switzerland and one via Lithuania. Installation and training followed in 2015–2016. Annual production of 2’500 precision sniper rifles was planned. On 7 November 2024, the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court sentenced him to seven years in prison for four violations of Germany’s Foreign Trade and Payments Act and the EU embargo on Russia. He had concealed the recipient and intended use. The court also ordered confiscation of around three million euros from the Swiss holding company.

Effect of the proposed War Materiel Act revision

Under the new Article 22b, the Federal Council could depart from all the licensing criteria in Article 22a under vaguely defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The public would not have to be informed. The Federal Council could add Russia to Annex 2 by amending the War Materiel Ordinance. This would remove the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict and make approval the rule. The Federal Council could refuse a licence only in exceptional cases. Article 18 paragraph 1 would abolish non-re-export declarations in the vast majority of cases. Weapons for Russia could thus easily be supplied through a subsidiary or intermediary in a third country. Italy could serve as a third country, having, according to SIPRI, supplied substantial quantities of war materiel to Russia in recent years (54 million TIV).

Countries

Time period

Deliveries in 2015; services in 2015–2016; judgment in 2024

Sources