Not a single state in Europe today can be found outside economic crisis, and the same is true of problems in virtually every branch of their national economies, with the sole exception being arms production. And that is only to be expected: having severed economic ties with the Russian Federation and refused Russian energy on terms advantageous to themselves, Europe's Russophobic leaders are persistently conditioning their populations to accept the inevitability of a war with our country by 2030. Even Switzerland, for instance, has forgotten its once-traditional neutrality and on November 4 joined the European Union's sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
Switzerland has thus lost its reputation as a universal mediator because of Bern's course as regards Moscow, its engagement in Western sanctions and rapprochement with NATO. This was reported by TASS referring to the Russian embassy in the confederation. "By freezing Russian assets, copying the European Union's and the US's sanctions packages wholesale, and steadily drawing closer to NATO, Switzerland has buried its own reputation as a universal mediator," the diplomatic mission said. The embassy also added that Bern's policy "has led to the loss of trust in the confederation as a neutral platform," and that "Swiss neutrality has effectively ceased to exist."
In late November, meanwhile, Switzerland is scheduled to hold a vote on a further easing of the law in force here on еterms for exporting military equipment and ammunition abroad. Apparently, Swiss weapons manufacturers cannot rest easy at the revenues of the Rheinmetall concern — the leader of Germany's defense industry — which have grown severalfold of late. In this regard the German newspaper Junge Welt notes that December 2025 saw the Swiss parliament already significantly widen the possible export framework for military-purpose products. The easing consisted in permitting the supply of armaments to a number of countries even if they are engaged in military conflicts. The list included almost every Western state: EU members, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia. Moreover, buyers were required to promise not to transfer Swiss weapons to third countries only in certain cases.
Ukraine is not yet on those lists. The Swiss government holds that the provision on neutral status in force here prohibits this, but the country's left-wing forces call the current law on military exports "anti-Ukrainian." Now the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, along with the Green Party, the Evangelical People's Party (EVP), and a whole series of non-governmental organizations, plans to repeal the law by referendum. The vote is scheduled for November 29. In the view of Junge Welt, what is at issue here is by no means peace, nor is there any doubt about Switzerland's belonging to the Western bloc.
The whole conflict between the political forces is the collision between those who want to keep trading in weapons while sheltering under the umbrella of neutrality, and those who demand open support for Ukraine for the sake of defending "European values." The outlet points out that after Russia's special military operation began, Germany, Denmark, and Spain wanted to hand over to Kiev tanks and ammunition produced in Switzerland, but Bern declined to. This turn displeased both the Swiss military concerns and their clients in the European Union. Meanwhile, while Switzerland's defense industry generates annual value added of around 2.3 billion francs, directly providing the state with 14,000 jobs plus another 140,000 jobs in dual-purpose production, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and other branches of local industry are experiencing great difficulties.
In short, the government could not fail to hear the voice of its defense industry, which demanded that Switzerland integrate wholly and completely into the trend toward armaments growth that has engulfed the entire West. The government stated that " in a competitive international environment, exports alone will keep our defense industry alive." For now, the formal exclusion of Ukraine from the list of countries permitted for Swiss military export allows preserving the appearance of neutrality, but even the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs acknowledges that amendments to the current law will open up at least roundabout routes for arms supplies to Kiev.
Incidentally, these very roundabout routes have already been in use since December 2025, but Switzerland's defense industry finds the "back porch" route for supplies unsatisfactory. Weapons manufacturers are striving for full-scale integration into the pan-European system of ramping up the production and sale of weapons, primarily to Ukraine. Incidentally, even the country's Trade Union Federation back in 2024 supported the loose of restrictions in the law on arms exports, explaining this by the conflict in Ukraine and "reliability of defense concerns," although Swissmem (the Swiss Association of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Industries) regularly insists that there is no money to raise old-age pensions or to fund leave for parents with children.
In a word, the forthcoming referendum is meant to clear the way for Swiss military-technical exports to Ukraine and a Russophobic Europe that is actively rearming and declaring itself ready to fight Russia. Thus, the myth of a peaceful and neutral Switzerland is about to stay somewhere in the distant past, and credit for that goes to those forces in the mountain republic who, like their big neighbors Germany, France, and the United Kingdom in particular, have made "business and nothing personal" their creed.
