ALBAWABA - The Swiss government was reported to have blocked the transfer of about 100 Leopard 1s tanks to Ukraine.
In detail, the public broadcasting organization RSI published a photo showing Leopard tanks belonging to the RUAG company stored in Italy and unable to complete their way to Ukraine after a ban from the Swiss government.
RSI posted: “There are at least 95 of them, arranged in nine regular rows. Almost all of the tanks – except for three vehicles – are protected by tarpaulins that fail to conceal their precise shape and thus their model: these are the ‘Leopard 1s’ purchased in 2016 from RUAG. Old vehicles that the Italian army wanted to get rid of."
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According to RSI, the 100 Leopard 1s tanks were left out in an open-area depot near Gorizia city in Italy after the Swiss government refused their sale to Germany which was eventually planning to send them to Ukraine to fight Russia.
The Swiss broadcaster confirmed that the contract signed by RUAG obliged the Swiss company to transfer them to the Goriziane company by the end of 2017. However, till this moment the tanks are stuck in Italy.
Furthermore, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, among others, were to buy them from Switzerland and send the Leopard 1s tanks to Ukraine to assist in its war with Russia.
RSI read the contract signed saying that RUAG would sell them to Rheinmetall, but the sale was suggested in front of the Swiss government, which eventually rejected it.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a televised speech a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have been sending military aid to Kyiv to help repel the Russian invasion.
