War
What Russia's invasion of Ukraine has meant for Austria, a country geographically and politically oriented towards the east
Servus!
War has returned to Europe. Following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia has made inroads in the north, east, and south of the country. It has targeted civilian and nuclear infrastructure, with the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Chernihiv particularly hard hit. Russia is currently advancing on Kryvyi Rih, Izium, and Kyiv, although its armed forces are advancing more slowly than its leader, Vladimir Putin, may have anticipated. The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia headed to the Ukrainian capital Tuesday to show their solidarity with the government of president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Beyond creating certain humanitarian corridors, his negotiators have had limited success thus far in their conversations with their Russian counterparts. The fighting continues; the death toll climbs.
In recent days, a war that had been confined to the eastern half of Ukraine has moved ever closer to Austria’s frontiers. On March 13, the Russian air force attacked a Ukrainian military base in Yavoriv—350 miles from Vienna—injuring 35 people in the process. That same day, Russia struck at an airport in Ivano-Frankivsk and a military airfield in Lutsk. Vienna, it should be noted, is closer as the crow flies to Ukraine’s western border with Slovakia than it is to Austria’s own western border with Switzerland. From the Austrian capital, Kyiv and Paris are equidistant. Austria is a country with western European living standards geographically and politically oriented towards the east.
Along with Germany, Italy, and Hungary, Austria was initially among those holding up and resisting European-level sanctions against the Putin regime including shutting down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project and booting Russia out of the SWIFT system facilitating international financial transactions. Once that regime made clear its intentions for Ukraine by recognizing its breakaway client republics in Luhansk and Donetsk, however, Austria conducted a volte-face and signed onto some of the most comprehensive sanctions in European history, in spite of the consequences those sanctions will have for Austrian companies invested in the Russian economy and banks like Raiffeisen that are exposed to Russian debt.
The war has shone a spotlight on the cozy relationship between Russia and the Austrian political and economic elite. Former chancellors Christian Kern and Wolfgang Schüssel were practically shamed into giving up their seats on the boards of Russian Railways and Lukoil respectively; former foreign minister Karin Kneissl has indicated her desire to remain with Rosneft. As in Sweden and Finland, the war has begotten a reconsideration of what it means to be a neutral state, with Austria coming out firmly against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, though there is no indication at present that the country is in a rush to join NATO.
The impact of the war and those aforementioned sanctions are already being felt in Austria, a country which hitherto had been addicted to cheap Russian gas and oil. Last week, reported gas prices climbed above 2 Euros a liter; Eisenstadt, the capital of the state of Burgenland, announced Tuesday its city buses would be free to use until the end of April. The Viennese city government announced a program Tuesday to help the vulnerable—the unemployed, those on the basic state pension, those on welfare—with their energy costs. The price of basic goods including sunflower oil, a large percentage of which is produced in Ukraine, is expected to rise.
The war in Ukraine has now displaced 3 million people, 1.8 million of whom have arrived in Poland, 460,000 in Romania, and 340,000 in Moldova. The right to move freely around the Schengen area in conjunction with the EU’s swift offer of temporary protection means Ukrainians remain on the move, and in recent days, refugees have started to arrive at Vienna’s central train station where they are being assisted by charitable organizations like Caritas, Asyl in Not, and Diakonie in obtaining food, shelter, and legal counsel. Vienna’s Jewish community is providing its own support to around 500 Jewish refugees who have sought protection here.
Donations to Caritas’s efforts in Ukraine and with Ukrainian refugees in Austria can be made here.
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Erhard Busek, 1941-2022
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