Switzerland said on Friday that, in keeping with its historic policy of neutrality, it will not allow Swiss war supplies to be sent to Ukraine via third countries.

But the government decided that even if the produced ammunition is likely to be sent to Ukraine, it will still be possible to deliver war materials to European arms companies in the form of assembly parts or individual components.

The Swiss executive said in a statement that Switzerland received requests from Germany and Denmark to send war supplies to Ukraine.

According to the Swiss War Materials Act, export requests cannot be approved if the recipient country is in an international armed conflict.

“As the export of war material from Switzerland to Ukraine cannot be authorized on the basis of equal treatment under the law of neutrality (…), it is not possible to respond positively to requests from Germany and Denmark for the shipment of war material to Turkey. Ukraine”, the Federal Council reported.

The government also decided Friday on two requests by Swiss companies to export parts and assembly packages to defense companies in neighboring Germany and Italy.

“There is a risk that some components will be included in overseas war supplies that may later go to Ukraine,” the government said.

“In principle, deliveries of war material in the form of spare parts and assembly packages are allowed, as long as their share in the final product is less than 50% for countries such as Italy and Germany,” he recalled.

“The Federal Council has decided to continue this practice. Such exports comply with the law of neutrality,” he said.

Switzerland, taking an unexpected turn from its traditional policy of neutrality in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, accepted the European Union’s economic and financial sanctions against Moscow.