It didn’t occur to the Austrian chamber of commerce that hosting a cozy networking event on the outskirts of Moscow might raise eyebrows in some quarters.
As record cold gripped the Russian capital in January, the local chapter saw an opportunity to pierce the ennui of the snowbound winter with “a sporty Austrian Business Circle in Moscow featuring cross-country skiing in Odintsovo, a park for culture, sport and relaxation.”
Hoping to lure some of the hundreds of Austrian companies active in Russia and their business partners, the chamber even offered free equipment and instructors to help the uninitiated navigate the “snowy woods,” followed by a reception at a local watering hole.
It was only after a reporter from the Austrian investigative platform ZackZack enquired about the event that the chamber nixed it.
The failed Moscow outing exemplifies the ambivalent approach the Alpine country has taken with respect to Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched a brutal assault on Ukraine last year: Vienna doesn’t want to be seen openly supporting Moscow, but it’s also wary of doing permanent damage to a relationship that has been quite lucrative for the country for decades.
While Austria was hardly the only country to have eagerly embraced Russia in the run-up to Putin’s full-scale assault last year, no member of the EU has had more difficulty in letting go (Hungary doesn’t seem to be even trying).
Even as Austria has supported Ukraine with substantial humanitarian aid, taken in scores of refugees, endorsed European Union sanctions against Russia, and publicly criticized Putin for violating international norms, behind the scenes the commercial ties between the two countries remain firmly intact, especially in the areas of energy and finance.
It’s been a difficult balancing act. When Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer decided in April of last year to be the first European leader in the wake of the invasion to jet to Moscow (via Kyiv) and meet Putin man-to-man, he tried to sell it as a mission of peace and his solemn “duty.” Austria’s European critics sensed a cover story. Though few details emerged from what Nehammer called a “tough and frank conversation,” skeptics noted that Russian gas to Austria continued to flow, in sharp contrast to Germany, which was cut off.
Austria’s Western partners have long tolerated its dealings with Russia, but the war in Ukraine has raised the stakes, and Vienna suddenly finds itself under pressure from all sides. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic say Austria’s embrace of “military neutrality” and what many perceive as its down-the-middle approach to the crisis betrays a deep-seated cynicism among the country’s elites in their dealings with Russia and poses a substantial threat to European unity over Ukraine.
“Austria is certainly [the] EU’s soft underbelly concerning Russia,” one senior Commission official said, pointing to what the person described as Moscow’s successful infiltration of the country’s establishment over the years.
For the EU, which is already struggling to cope with perennial Hungarian bad boy Viktor Orbán’s flirtations with Putin, Austria’s refusal to aggressively disengage from Russia further complicates efforts to present a common front. The fear in Brussels is that over time, the emergence of a Russia-tolerant zone at the geographic heart of Europe, encompassing Hungary and Austria, could spread, giving Russia the upper hand in its ongoing effort to drive a wedge through the Continent.
Alexander Schallenberg, Austria’s energetic foreign minister and fiercest advocate on the international stage, insists such takes are rooted in the past and divorced from current realities. Far from endangering European unity, Austria has strengthened it, he argued in a recent interview.
“Since February 24th of last year, both Chancellor Nehammer and I have made it crystal clear where this country stands and what the position of our government is,” Schallenberg said. “For a country like Austria, a small, export-dependent country at the center of the European continent, it is essential that international law and the principle of pacta sunt servanda be respected,” referring to the Latin dictum meaning “agreements must be kept.”
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Source: Poitico.eu – Matthew Karnitsching
Graphic: Pixabay