Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is appealing to the Swiss parliament to allow the onward sale of Swiss-made weapons as his country seeks to claim back territory taken by Russia.
He is expected to address Swiss parliament on Thursday in a video call on the onward transfer of Swiss-made weapons under the country’s long-standing commitment to neutrality.
However, around a quarter of the seats are expected to remain empty during his video appeal to both chambers, after a protest by a right-wing party that objects to what it sees as interfering in domestic decision-making.
The right-wing conservative SVP, the party with the largest number of voters, confirmed that its lawmakers would largely stay away from Zelensky’s address.
It said it considers the speech an intrusion into Swiss politics.
“We have to be careful that we don’t gradually slide deeper and deeper into this conflict,” SVP parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi said.
The question of neutrality, a tenet held for 200 years, is dividing Switzerland amid the ongoing war launched by the Kremlin in February 2022.
So far, Switzerland has banned Germany and other countries from passing on arms purchased in Switzerland years ago to Kiev.
However, Swiss Green and Social Democrat lawmakers in particular are calling for restricting Switzerland’s neutrality when the UN Security Council or a large majority of the United Nations have condemned an attack as contrary to international law.
This applies to Ukraine but the SVP sees this as unacceptable.
However, the Swiss National Council, the largest parliamentary chamber, is setting the path for the country to sell 25 of its 96 decommissioned Leopard 2 tanks back to Germany.
Berlin seeks to rearm them and either pass them on to embattled Ukraine or keep them as replacements for tanks sent to Kiev.
The tanks must be formally decommissioned by parliament, after advocates won a vote on this on Wednesday by 132 to 59.
Many lawmakers say the tanks were not Swiss-made so it does affect neutrality.
The second chamber, however, still has to vote on the issue, before the government has the final say.
It has signaled its approval for the move.
