Switzerland's famous neutral status will face the biggest test in decades, with the Defense Ministry striving closer to Western powers in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters.

The defense ministry is preparing a report on security options that include joint military exercises with NATO countries and "loading" ammunition, he told Reuters. Paelvi Puli, Head of Security Policy at the Swiss Ministry of Defense.

"Eventually, there may be changes in the way neutrality is interpreted," Pully said in an interview last week. On a trip to Washington this week, the Secretary of Defense Viola Amherd said Switzerland should work more closely with the US-led military alliance, but not join it, Swiss media reported.

"Neutrality, which kept Switzerland out of the two world wars during the 20th century, was not an end in itself, but an aim to increase Swiss security," Pully said.

Approaching the alliance would mark a departure from a carefully nurtured tradition of non-alignment that its supporters say has helped Switzerland move forward peacefully and retain its special role as mediator, including during the West's stalemate with the Soviet Union.

The idea of ​​full NATO membership has been discussed, but while Sweden and Finland - countries that also have a history of neutrality - are on the verge of joining, Pully said the report is unlikely to recommend Switzerland take that step.

The report should be completed by the end of September when it will go to the Swiss cabinet for consideration.

It will be submitted to parliament for discussion and will serve as a basis for possible decisions on the future direction of Swiss security policy. The report itself will not be submitted for voting.

The Ministry of Defense will also contribute to a broader study prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project will look at the adoption of sanctions, arms exports, ammunition and relations with NATO from a neutral perspective, the foreign ministry said.

The Ukrainian crisis has changed Swiss rhetoric

The Swiss nation has not fought an international war since 1815, when it adopted the neutrality of the Congress in Vienna that ended the French Revolutionary Wars.

The Hague Convention of 1907 stipulates that Switzerland will not take part in international armed conflicts, favor the warring parties with troops or armaments, or make its territory available to the warring parties.

Neutrality enshrined in the constitution gives Switzerland the right to self-defense and the scope for how it interprets the political aspects of the concept that are not covered by the legal definition.

It was last updated in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union to enable a foreign policy based on cooperation with other countries in areas such as humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

The conflict in Ukraine has revived the debate, which is now focused on the government's decisions to impose sanctions on Russia, but not allowing re-exports of Swiss ammunition to Ukraine.

"There is a lot of unease that Switzerland can no longer contribute to helping Ukraine," Pully said.

The President Ignacio Cassis ruled out arms supplies to third countries in support of Ukraine, but perhaps showing a broader view on the issue, he also said neutrality was not a "dogma" and that failure to respond with sanctions "would play into the hands of the aggressor ".

Bern increases support for NATO

Switzerland already has some ties to NATO after deciding last year to buy Lockheed Martin F-35A fighters purchased or already used by some NATO members.

Switzerland "can not join any alliance because of neutrality. "But we can work together and the systems we buy are a good basis for that," Defense Minister Amherd told SRF.

The measures under consideration would be a significant step closer for a country that did not join the United Nations by 2002 and produces many of its own weapons.

Vladimir Khokhlov, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Bern, said such measures would represent a radical change of policy for Switzerland. Moscow "will not be able to ignore" the possible renunciation of neutrality, which would have consequences, Hohlov said.

The Swiss military is pushing for greater co-operation with NATO as a way to strengthen national defense, while public opinion has changed since the invasion of Ukraine.

More than half of those polled - 56 per cent - supported growing ties with NATO, a recent poll found - well above the 37 per cent average in recent years.

Support for de facto accession remains a minority stance, but has grown significantly. An April poll by Sotomo found that 33 percent of Swiss people supported joining the alliance, up from 21 percent in the long-term study at a separate study from ETH University in Zurich.

"It is clear that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed a lot. "This is seen as an attack on our Western democratic values," said Michael Herman of Sotomo.

Thierry Burkart, a leader of the center-right Liberal Democratic Party, part of the governing coalition, described a "seismic change" in how people feel about neutrality.

"Neutrality" must be flexible, "he told Reuters.

"Before Ukraine, some people thought there would never be a new conventional war in Europe," he said, adding that some had called for the army to be disbanded. "The conflict in Ukraine shows that we can not be complacent."

Burkart said he supported higher military spending and closer ties with NATO, but not full membership.

However, Peter Keller, secretary general of the far-right Swiss People's Party (SPP), told Reuters that closer ties with NATO were incompatible with neutrality.

The SPE is also part of the governing coalition and is the largest party in the Swiss lower house of parliament.

"There is no reason to change this successful foreign policy maxim. "It brought peace and prosperity to the people."

The Ministry of Defense does not agree. During her visit to Washington, Amherd said the neutrality law framework "allows us to work more closely with NATO, as well as with our European partners," the daily Tagesanziger reported.