Ukraine ready to reject Swiss trains over firm's factory in Belarus

By Timur Kirez

GENEVA (AA) - Ukraine is ready to spurn Swiss trains over a local rail company’s presence in Belarus, Russia’s ally, said the state railway head.

"(Swiss company) Stadler pays taxes in Belarus and thus directly supports Belarusian railroads, which bring Russian troops and weapons into the country," Alexander Kamyshin, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, told Swiss daily Blick on Wednesday evening, alluding to Russia’s nearly year-old war on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian railroad company put out to tender a contract worth about $1.07 billion in 2021 to buy 80 new electric trains, and Stadler Rail is one of the bidders.

Belarus allows Russian troops to launch attacks on Ukraine from its territory, Kamyshin said. If Stadler is ready to open a production plant in Ukraine, "then we will gladly resume the discussion on the supply of new trains," the CEO added.

Blick added that in 2013 Stadler opened a production site in Fanipol, some 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) outside the Belarusian capital Minsk.

In 2018, the eastern Swiss company invested another $42.9 million in the plant. However, the plant has been effectively idle for the past year due to international sanctions on Belarus.​​​​​​​