Switzerland cannot remain neutral over war, says Ukrainian ambassador

Ukrainian soldiers fire rockets at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on February 25, 2023. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Switzerland cannot remain neutral in the face of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, says Ukraine’s ambassador to Switzerland Iryna Venediktova. 

“It’s a question of defending the international legal order and human rights,” she told the SonntagsZeitung in an interview on Sunday.

“The Swiss principle of neutrality is based on agreements made over centuries. But with the establishment of public international law after the Second World War, the situation has fundamentally changed.”

+ How the war in Ukraine has changed Switzerland.

Attack is illegal and defence is legal, said the ambassador. “Other countries should help the attacked country retain its sovereignty,” she said.

The ambassador says she respects Swiss neutrality. “But please let other countries send their Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine,” she said.

Venediktova would like to see a rapid change of the Swiss law on the re-export of arms manufactured in Switzerland, which is currently under discussion in parliament. 

+ Survey shows broad political support for relaxation of war materiel re-export rules

The federal government decided in June 2022 that re-exports of war materiel should be refused if the country of destination is involved in an international armed conflict. This is the case for the warring nations of Ukraine and Russia. In recent months the Swiss government has resisted pressure from Germany, Spain and Denmark to permit the re-export of Swiss-made war materiel.

“As the war continues, we are dependent on broad support from the international community,” she declared.

She thanked Switzerland for its “invaluable” aid and support for demining operations. “The solidarity is great. It touches me,” she said.

Venediktova was confirmed as Ukraine’s ambassador in November 2022. She worked as Ukraine’s prosecutor general before being fired – along with the head of the domestic security agency – in July 2022. During her time as prosecutor general, Venediktova was involved in efforts to investigate the huge numbers of alleged war crimes and crimes of aggression committed by Russia since the start of its invasion in February 2022.

‘The whole world should look like Switzerland’

In a separate interview on Monday with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Venediktova spoke about the Swiss achievement of building a country founded on “direct democracy, decentralisation, and a smart management of the state”. The diverse co-existence of several languages, cultures, and religions is part of Switzerland’s strength, and is a model for a country like Ukraine, which is no less diverse, she said.

Venediktova, who played a key role in Volodymyr Zelensky’s successful 2019 presidential election campaign, played down her removal last year from the office of prosecutor general. She would not have been subsequently named ambassador if there were serious doubts about her integrity, she said: “someone who works for the state and whose reputation is called into question is never chosen to speak in the name of the president and the country.”