The Swiss authorities said that they rejected a request by arms manufacturing company Ruag AG for permission to sell nearly a hundred Leopard 1 A5 tanks to Germany for their subsequent transfer to Ukraine.
“The Federal Council on June 28 rejected a request from Ruag AG concerning the export of 96 Leopard 1 A5 tanks destined for Ukraine, as it is contrary to current legislation,” the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The council explained that such a sale would violate Swiss law in force. In addition, the deal “would violate Switzerland’s position on neutrality.”
Ruag AG submitted an export request to the authorities on June 27 for the resale of 96 used and inoperable Leopard 1 A5 tanks. The tanks are currently in storage in Italy and need to be repaired in Germany before being shipped elsewhere.
The Leopard 1 was the main battle tank of the FRG until the 1980s. It was produced from 1965 to 1984 and was in service with the Federal Republic of Germany until 2010. More than a dozen countries still have it in their armed forces, including Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Italy, Chile, Australia and Canada; the tank is continuously upgraded. Totally more than 4.7 thousand tanks of this model were produced. The tank is equipped with a 105mm rifled gun with a load of 60 rounds. The tank is equipped with optical stereoscopic rangefinder, binocular, monocular with night channel and telescopic sights. Speed of the Leopard 1 on a highway is 62 km/h, range – 600 km.
The Ministry of Energy has resumed the re-export of natural gas from Ukraine by amending order No. 99 dated March 3, 2022, by which re-export was previously stopped due to Russian aggression, Ukrtransgaz JSC, the operator of gas storage facilities in Ukraine, said on Tuesday.
“The changes apply to gas that will be imported into Ukraine from April 3, 2022 for further storage in underground gas storages in the “customs warehouse” mode, including transportation at a special short-haul rate,” the company informed.
At the same time, as Ukrtransgaz explained, gas imported into Ukraine before April 3, 2022 is still subject to a ban on re-export, but it can be cleared through customs and sold in the country.
“We welcome the decision to resume the re-export of natural gas from Ukraine. The restoration of re-export operations is an important signal for our foreign customers of services, who currently operate in 27 countries. We hope that in the new gas injection season they will consider Ukrainian gas storage facilities as a platform for storing natural gas.” – said Serhiy Pereloma, Acting General Director of Ukrtransgaz.
