Austria and Sweden, the two models that Russia proposes for Ukraine

Austria and Sweden are two countries that do not belong to NATO and whose neutral status Russia cited as an example to apply in Ukraine although, since the Russian invasion, both are questioning the viability of the model.

The Ukrainian government, for its part, rejected the proposal, asking for “absolute security guarantees” against Russia.

Austria clinging to its neutrality

“Neutrality is part of the Austrian identity”, recalls Martin Senn, a political scientist at the University of Innsbruck.

This statute, imposed in 1955 by the Soviets, who had been occupying the country alongside Westerners for ten years, turned Austria, an ally of Hitler, into the scene of historic encounters.

Khrushchev shook Kennedy’s hand there in 1961, Brezhnev that of Carter in 1979 and the UN, like other international institutions, installed one of its headquarters.

Since then, the Vienna government advocates for peace in the world and continues to be the framework for many multilateral negotiations.

However, Austria is no longer entirely impartial. In 1995 it joined the European Union (EU) and participates in the common security and defense provided for by the Lisbon Treaty of 2009.

According to Martin Senn the country never “really argued” about neutrality and now a debate arises “urgent”.

Russia, with whom Austria traditionally has close relations, criticized the “facade neutrality” of Vienna by supporting the Ukrainian cause, like the rest of the Western countries, with some exceptions such as Serbia.

“This atrocious war a few hundred kilometers away was necessary for us to stop being naive”said Christian Rainer in an opinion piece in the weekly Profil.

Austria is one of the EU countries that spends the least on defense, only 0.7% of GDP and the Government has already announced that it wants to reach 1%, like neighboring Switzerland, which has triple the number of soldiers, fighter planes or tanks and is also debating its neutrality over the Ukraine war.

But the Austrian head of government, Karl Nehammer, a career military officer, refuses to open this debate for the time being and assures that “Austria will remain neutral.”

As for joining NATO, four out of five Austrians are against it, according to a recent poll.

debate in sweden

Sweden considers itself non-aligned in times of peace and in times of war it aspires to neutrality.

In 1992, at the end of the Cold War, it abandoned its policy of strict neutrality and three years later, in 1995, it joined the EU.

Sweden is one of the few countries in Europe that has not been at war for more than two centuries. It is not a member of NATO, although it has been a member of the military alliance since the 1990s.

After having drastically reduced its military spending, which went from almost 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 1960s and 1970s to just over 1% in the early 2010s, it began a phase of massive investments after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Now, after the invasion of Ukraine, Sweden wants to reach 2% of GDP as quickly as possible, probably by 2030.

For the first time, most Swedes are in favor of joining NATO. But the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Magdalena Andersson, closed the door to that possibility for fear of “destabilizing” the situation in northern Europe.