Austrians Back Opposition's Stance on Maintaining Neutrality in Ukraine Crisis

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Austrian citizens have voiced great support for the stance of the opposition Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which calls for the country's long-standing neutrality and its constitutionally enshrined status to be respected during the Ukraine conflict, Roman Haider, an EU lawmaker from the FPO, told Sputnik.

On Thursday, FPO members left a parliamentary meeting to protest the broadcast of a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who sought to give his take on the conflict ravaging his country since February 2022. The opposition lawmakers said that the broadcast ran counter to Austria's neutrality principle.

"Our slogans are 'Place for Neutrality,' 'Place for Peace'. They find good support, as FPO has the lead in all polls between 25% and 30%. The Austrians value neutrality very highly, and therefore do not want to favor any of the belligerent parties," Haider said.

The Austrian opposition party, along with the majority of Austrian people, condemns the Ukraine crisis and is "certainly not pro-Russian," but it does not want to take any side in the conflict, the lawmaker told Sputnik.

"The citizens see Austria as the place where peace negotiations are to take place... The political establishment here is in stark contrast to the opinion of the citizens," Haider said.

Even though Vienna has pledged millions, mostly in humanitarian aid, to assist Ukraine and supported the EU sanctions against Russia, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has repeatedly stressed the immutability of the country's neutrality, the lawmaker said. Despite its political commitment to Kiev, Austria still seeks to keep communication channels with Moscow open, Haider concluded.

On October 26, 1955, Austria adopted the Constitutional Law on Neutrality, in which the country declared its commitment to maintain and defend its neutral status with all possible means. For more than half a century, Vienna has been building its foreign policy based on this special status of permanent neutrality in world politics, but in 2022, it sided with the United States and its NATO allies on Ukraine, adopting sanctions against Russia and sending protective gear and fuel to Kiev.