WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish company strongly denied that any laws were broken when it sent Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, after the Swiss government imposed some export restrictions on the company over concerns the ammunition ended up in Ukraine.
The Swiss government said last week it is banning exports to Polish military hardware supplier UMO after concluding that some 645,000 rounds of Swiss small-caliber ammunition ended up in Ukraine.
The issue is sensitive because Swiss laws on neutrality and the export of war materials prohibit the export or re-export of Swiss-owned or Swiss-made military hardware to countries in conflict.
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Poland, on the other hand, is one of neighboring Ukraine’s closest allies and has sought to help Kiev defend itself against the Russian invasion with arms supplies.
UMO, which specializes in hardware for the military and police, said it bought ammunition from a Swiss ammunition supplier, SwissP Defense, in 2023 and later exported the ammunition to Ukraine “in accordance with Polish law.”
It argued that it had also not broken Swiss law, saying that “the Swiss government has transferred control of the goods to Polish law.”
“The information that the Polish company UMO … has in any way violated the provisions of generally applicable law by exporting ammunition purchased from the Swiss manufacturer SWISS P Defense AG to Ukraine is not true,” UMO said in an email this week to The Associated Press. .
Fabian Maienfisch, spokesman for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, also known as SECO, said UMO “failed to fulfill its contractual obligations to the Swiss manufacturer and the ammunition ended up in Ukraine.”
“The investigation revealed that the Swiss manufacturer and the Polish company had signed a reseller agreement stating that the Polish company had the right to resell the ammunition only in Poland,” he said in an emailed statement to the AP.
“For the time being, export requests to the Polish company concerned for general resale are rejected, as the risk of diversion to Ukraine is estimated to be too high. However, the Polish company can still act as an intermediary for Polish state entities,” the statement said.
UMO has since pushed back strongly, stating that it “always operates within the limits set by the provisions of generally applicable law and in accordance with the contracts entered into with its contractors.”
The company published its denial on its website and in an emailed statement to the AP.
In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, UMO said it is “proud of its role in strengthening Ukraine’s defense and freedom.”
