Investigation launched into Russian missile purchase
The defence ministry has launched an investigation into the purchase of Russian missiles by the former head of the Swiss secret service, Peter Regli, in 1994.
Samuel Schmid, the defence minister, found out about the weapons two months ago when the army asked to ship them to South Africa in exchange for services to the Swiss air force. Schmid vetoed the deal and ordered an investigation according to the Zurich tabloid, Sonntagsblick.
The investigation will be internal and external. Samuel Schmid has also promised to uncover exactly what ties existed between Regli and the South African intelligence agency, in particular if there was an accord between the secret services concerning chemical warfare defence.
The former head of the South African secret service, general Chris Thirion, claims such a deal did exist. “Peter Regli knew about it,” Thirion told the French-language daily, Le Matin. “It wasn’t a routine accord.”
Regli has always denied knowledge of South Africa’s chemical and bacteriological weapons programme during the apartheid era. Earlier this year he was accused of being involved in the criminal activities of Wouter Basson, South Africa’s director of a covert chemical weapons programme at the time.
The Defence Ministry’s spokesman, Oswald Sigg, has confirmed Peter Regli acquired the two SA-18 air-defence weapons. The missiles have since been deposited in an army depot.
In an interview with the Swiss-German news programme “10 vor 10” on Friday, Sigg said it was not clear to him how Regli could acquire the weapons as the Defence Ministry was not involved.
Selling foreign weapons for test purposes was quite common practice in the 1980s, however, “the acquisition in 1994 was an exception,” Sigg said.
The two air-defence missiles cost as much as SFr300,000 and Sigg does not quite know yet what to do with the weapons, which are currently stored in a secret bunker near the Swiss town of Thun.
“10 vor 10” also reported Regli as saying he only bought the weapons as a safety precaution as he did not want them to end up in the hands of terrorist after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
swissinfo with agencies
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