The demonstrators marched through the central streets of the city to the sound of a siren with a banner “Yes to neutrality and peace! No to the EU!”. Judging from the video posted by Twitter users, many of the protesters were carrying Austrian flags, some had red-white-red symbols on their faces. Among them, there were also demonstrators with Russian tricolors in their hands.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Austria plans to provide more than 580 million euros of non-lethal aid to Ukraine.
“It is important to emphasize that while we are militarily neutral according to our constitution and legal norms, we are certainly not politically neutral when it comes to Ukraine,” Austrian Defense Minister Claudia Tanner told Euractiv in early February.
The other day, the same Tanner during an amusing lightning poll of the Austrian edition of Heute to the question “[Штурмовая винтовка] StG77 or do they talk to each other?” he replied “Modified Assault Rifle!”, causing quite a stir on social media.
Later, the press service of the Austrian minister tried to justify that Tanner had in mind the modernization of the federal army, while she herself is always “in favor of dialogue and diplomatic methods.”