Poland Slams Swiss Sale of Camouflage Nets to Russia

Poland on Tuesday criticized a Swiss company's sale of high-tech camouflage netting to Russia despite Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine conflict.

"It must be condemned... supplying this kind of equipment facilitates the aggression of the Russian military," Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told PAP news agency of the 85 million euros ($91 million sale).

The netting is designed to escape detection by radar and infra-red captors and constitutes the largest ever sale of Swiss military equipment to a Russian company.

The contract was signed in August 2014, before Bern decided to mirror EU sanctions against Russia, Swiss economic policy spokesman Fabian Maienfisch told the ATS news agency on Sunday.

Maienfisch declined to name either the civilian Russian buyer or the Swiss supplier. 

The United States and the European Union imposed a first round of sanctions against Moscow in March 2014 over its actions in Ukraine, followed by further penalties as the conflict has dragged on.