Switzerland must strengthen its defense capacity: Amherd wants more money for the army

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Federal President and Minister of Defense Viola Amherd (61) traveled to Estonia and then to Norway at the beginning of this week. Both NATO members were very concerned about the situation in Ukraine, Amherd said on the last day of their trip.

Estonia is even more affected due to its proximity to Russia, but also for historical reasons. The country is therefore also expanding its defense capabilities. In January, the three Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania also announced that they would set up a common defense line on the border with Russia and Belarus.

Amherd believes that Switzerland should learn lessons from this and strengthen its own capabilities. At the beginning of this week, she had already announced that today it was necessary to evaluate whether Switzerland can still continue in this way decades after the end of the Cold War: “The army has been destroyed for thirty years and it is clear that this will not happen within five years and can be corrected without increasing funding.”

Cooperation with EU partners must be intensified

The new State Secretary for Security Policy, Markus Mäder (52), who accompanied Amherd, also believes that defense capabilities need to be strengthened. Switzerland must also increase its resilience against hybrid threats.

At the same time, cooperation with European partners must be intensified. It is important to exchange information and experiences with NATO, but also bilaterally with several European countries.

Army Chief Thomas Süssli (57) will travel to Estonia in June. Because Switzerland and Estonia both have a militia system and a similar mobilization model. Süssli will also learn more about defending against cyber attacks. Estonia has experience in this area, as Amherd emphasized after her conversation with her Estonian colleague.

Frozen Russian funds for Ukraine are a problem

According to Mäder, Switzerland also wants to evaluate the extent to which it can participate in joint exercises. Since 2020, the federal government has been participating in the activities of the NATO Competence Center for Cyber ​​Defense in Tallinn. The center organizes, among other things, the annual defense exercise Lock Shields, a simulation of a large-scale cyber attack.

This year, about twenty Swiss will participate in the exercise from Andermatt UR and form a team together with the US and Austria, as Reto Senn, defense attaché for Sweden, Finland, Norway and Estonia, said during the visit of the Swiss delegation to the center.

The Federal President also addressed the issue of frozen Russian assets and the possibility of using them for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Such legislation is underway in Estonia, she said. However, the interlocutors agreed that an international solution had to be found that could be implemented by all countries.

So far, 7.5 billion francs have been frozen

When asked whether such a law would be compatible with Swiss neutrality, the minister replied that it “depends on the mechanism”. For the time being, Bern is following what is happening at an international level.

In Switzerland, around 7.5 billion francs in Russian funds have so far been frozen as part of the sanctions, according to figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).

During the last autumn session, the National Council adopted five motions demanding that the Federal Council take measures to develop at the international level the basis “for a reparations mechanism in favor of a state attacked in violation of international law and at the expense of the state property of the belligerent aggressor”.

The subject is expected to be discussed in the spring session of the Council of States. (SDA)

Source:Blick