Military convoys rolled through Vienna on Sunday and Monday. An army spokesman explained that the transport involved 13 French military vehicles. These are on their way to Hungary.
Associations of military vehicles were also repeatedly sighted in Upper Austria, as reported by Austrians on social media. The army spokesman denied reports in German newspapers that Austrian airspace was closed to NATO. That was a faulty report since the airspace is only closed to Russian aircraft. But Austria is neutral and not a member of NATO.
NATO does not have to send a request to Austria for overflights, because NATO is not at war, the argument goes. However, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has flip-flopped on this important issue. He suddenly backtracked and announced on Twitter that this was not up for debate after he had dismissed any notions of neutrality. The country’s top politician is not to be trusted, many complained on social media.
As reported by a daily newspaper, a column of heavily armored military vehicles was sighted as early as Sunday evening. A Viennese inhabitant observed this in Ober St. Veit (Penzing): “The column drove in at the western entrance in the direction of the inner city.” At the head of the convoy, was a VW Golf of the Austrian army.
Another eyewitness discovered another military convoy in the 14th district of Vienna on a morning commute to work on Monday. She filmed the military transport on Linke Wienzeile near Schönbrunn with her smartphone.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Michael Bauer, commented on the military convoy that rolled through Vienna on Sunday: “These were 13 vehicles of the French military that were on their way to Hungary.” There’s no need to worry, he said. “Most of the time, such transports travel through Austria by rail. But this is nothing unusual and happens again and again,” said Colonel Bauer.
The “elite” unit from France consisted of around 500 soldiers from the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), a NATO spearhead with a total of 20 000 soldiers. They can be operational worldwide within seven days.
According to Colonel Bauer, Austrian airspace was closed only to Russian aircraft due to the war in Ukraine. In doing so, he denied German press reports that Austria had also closed its airspace to NATO. That was, according to Bauer, a mistake.
According to information from Business Insider, Austria is said to have not only blocked the airspace for Russia, but also for NATO. As a result, flights had to be diverted via Italy, which is a clear detour.
No permit is required for NATO overflights over Austria however and therefore Austria has only blocked its airspace for Russian aircraft, according to the colonel. “Everyone else can fly over Austrian airspace,” said Bauer, except Russia. NATO does not have to send a separate request to Austria because the western alliance is not at war.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noticed that Austrian neutrality was being breached and said that this would be taken into account in the future. Perhaps that was the reason for Nehammer’s sudden clarification on Twitter. He quickly distanced himself from his own statement and reiterated the importance of neutrality.
Nehammer had previously flouted the position that Austrians cherish so much with the words: “Austria will not hide behind its neutrality.” But he made this decision without consulting Austrians, as a recent survey showed. In a defense policy survey conducted in Austria from February to March 2022, 78 percent of those surveyed were of the opinion that Austria should continue to maintain its neutrality, even against the background of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Only 14 percent were in favor of joining NATO.
