Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) gave more insight into his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nehammer said Putin himself raised the gas issue during his visit. According to Putin, the “gas supply has been secured”. The fact that the non-aligned EU states Finland and Sweden are ready to join NATO is “actually a paradigm shift” for Nehammer. Where there has been no paradigm shift, however, is the issue of Austrian neutrality: “It is permanent,” Nehammer emphasized.
On Putin’s side, there was an indication that all changes had to be sanctions compliant, Nehammer said in an interview with the APA and the dpa. Putin had previously ordered gas to be sold to western countries only for rubles, which they are strict against. As a result, Putin issued a decree requiring Western customers to open a ruble account with Gazprombank and process payments through this bank.
Gas embargo still rejected
Nehammer continued to reject a gas embargo against Russia. “The gas embargo is about the strength of the facts,” he said. Germany and Austria as well as Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary are highly dependent on Russian gas. “Self-demanding this gas embargo would mean serious damage to both industry and households from not supplying the gas.”
This would also entail job losses and jeopardize social equality. “It’s not a question of whether we don’t want it,” says Nehammer. Pipelines could also be blown up or gas could not be supplied as a result of the war, “the risk is there anyway”. Austria is also trying to diversify, but that too takes time.
“Brutal Showdown in Donbass”
Nehammer was pessimistic that a major blow to Donbass in eastern Ukraine could still be averted. “In short, there is now a brutal confrontation in the Donbass,” said the chancellor after his talks in Kiev and Moscow. “Both sides are preparing for a very intense and humanely devastating battle.” The Kremlin chief is also aware of the implications for Russia, the chancellor said.
NATO countries in the future “much stronger”
Moreover, in his conversation, Nehammer Putin pointed out that the war in Ukraine caused Europeans to increase their defense spending. The NATO states bordering Russia “will be much stronger in the near future than they are today because of their military armaments,” the chancellor said. Likewise, Europeans would become less dependent on Russian gas. This will entail “great upheavals” for Russia.
In Kiev, the Ukrainian side had asked how Austrian neutrality and armed neutrality functioned, Nehammer explained. However, the chancellor declined to give advice on this: “Ukraine can and must decide all these matters alone. This is very important. That cannot be good advice from the EU or from a member state of the European Union.”
Implement an “active neutrality policy”.
Austria could have an “active neutrality policy”. This shows that it does not belong to a military alliance and as a dialogue partner does not fit into the friend-enemy scheme. As for the developments in Finland and Sweden, “the dynamism comes from the war”. However, one has to distinguish between the three “neutrals” in the EU – Ireland, Malta and Austria – on the one hand, and the two “non-aligners” Finland and Sweden. “So it is different for Finland and Sweden than for clearly defined and externally declared neutral states.” Neutrality is a special act of international law.
Source: Krone
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