Germany supplies Ukraine with weapons in order to provide significant support to the country in the war against Russia. Among other things, the federal government is also sending the Gepard anti-aircraft vehicle to the war zone. The problem: This also includes bullets made in Switzerland. However, the Confederates showed their usual attitude and forbade Germany to supply the ammunition. The reason: neutrality.

In Germany, people are now angry because of the cancellation from Switzerland. Specifically, it was about 12,400 cartridges of 35mm ammunition, which Germany wanted to pass on to the Ukraine, but is not allowed to, since Switzerland wants to comply with the principle of equal treatment under neutrality law and therefore does not want to supply any country with weapons during the war. In order to have a reliable partner with regard to its own armaments industry, the federal government is now openly considering alternative suppliers of weapons and ammunition.

What’s more, the German capital seems to have already decided that Swiss arms exports cannot be relied on. That is why the federal government is planning new supply chains, reports the “Tagesanzeiger”.

“In terms of security policy, the world has changed since February 24, and Germany must immediately check the relevant delivery routes when ordering ammunition, and change or adjust them if necessary,” Strack-Zimmermann told the dpa. To that end, she also said that in such situations, “reliability” is what matters most.

The arms dispute is about billions. Among other things, the ammunition of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, the Mantis air defense system and the Eurofighter fighter jet are also affected. While Germany urgently needs to polish up its own military supplies, the Swiss could also suffer from a trade freeze. According to reports, arms exports worth 1.4 billion Swiss francs have been transported to Germany in the past ten years.

Should Germany cancel the arms orders from Switzerland, “that would be fatal for the Swiss armaments industry,” says Councilor of States Werner Salzmann (SVP) to “SRF”. In the future, Germany seems to be relying significantly more on its own production and also wants to involve EU and NATO partners in the arms trade. Switzerland is no longer mentioned, it is said. In Germany, there is currently an increase in the weapons inventory of over 30 billion euros.