The Swiss government said its Eagle armored vehicles ended up in Ukraine in circumvention of a re-export ban.
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This is stated in the results of an investigation conducted by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
The equipment was handed over by a German company without approval.
According to the “Military” armored vehicle Eagle of Swiss production, they noticed in Ukraine at the end of February 2023. In the 1990s, 36 Eagle armored cars were exported from Switzerland to Denmark. In 2013, Denmark exported 27 of them to a German private company with the consent of Switzerland.
The company, whose name was not disclosed, undertook not to re-export them to third parties without the consent of the Swiss side.
But an investigation by the Swiss authorities found that, despite this, 11 of the 27 Eagle armored vehicles were exported by the company to Ukraine in agreement with the German export control authorities.
“The former managing director did not apply to SECO for approval to export to Ukraine because, due to the demilitarized state of the vehicles (removal of armored protective coating and windows), he assumed that the right to non-re-export was no longer relevant,” the Swiss government noted.
Since the violation of the non-re-export declaration was committed by the former head of the company, and not by the German authorities, “the consequences should be directed exclusively against the former,” the Swiss authorities argue.
In the end, SECO decided that the export of military materials from Switzerland to the relevant manager would no longer be approved “because there is a high risk of their transfer to an undesirable final recipient.”
The Swiss all-wheel drive Eagle armored car was developed by MOWAG. There are five generations of this machine.
The seen armored vehicle in Ukraine probably belongs to the first generation of vehicles of this type, which were produced by Mowag on the chassis of the second generation HMMWV army SUV.
Source: Racurs
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