Article

The far-right politicians said they were protesting against the speech because it violated Austria’s principle of neutrality.

Lawmakers from the pro-Russia, far-right Freedom Party have walked out of the lower house of Austria’s parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy addressed the chamber via video link on Thursday, thanking Austria for its humanitarian aid and help with projects such as clearing land mines.

The far-right politicians said they were protesting against the speech because it violated Austria’s principle of neutrality.

Austria says its neutrality prevents it from military involvement in the conflict and, while it supports Ukraine politically, it cannot send the country weapons in its fight against the Russian invasion.

The Freedom Party (FPO), however, had warned days before that it would hold some form of protest against Zelenskyy’s address. Its lawmakers attended the start of the speech and then left.

“It is sad that the FPO is the only party in parliament that takes our ever-lasting neutrality seriously, thereby also standing up for peace,” FPO leader Herbert Kickl said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lawmakers who walked out of the chamber left small placards on their desks featuring the party logo and either “space for neutrality” or “space for peace”.

Of the five parties in parliament, the FPO has the third-largest number of seats in the lower house. It currently has a slight lead in opinion polls over the opposition Social Democrats and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives, who govern in coalition with the left-wing Greens.

The current parliament runs until the autumn of next year.

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This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)

> Lawmakers from the pro-Russia, far-right Freedom Party have walked out of the lower house of Austria's parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

> Zelenskyy addressed the chamber via video link on Thursday, thanking Austria for its humanitarian aid and help with projects such as clearing land mines.

> Lawmakers who walked out of the chamber left small placards on their desks featuring the party logo and either "Space for neutrality" or "Space for peace".

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Party^#1 Austria^#2 parliament^#3 neutrality^#4 Zelenskyy^#5

How do the majority of Austrians feel on this?

Edited to correct nationality.

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>The far-right politicians said they were protesting against the speech because it violated Austria’s principle of neutrality. Lawmakers from the pro-Russia, far-right Freedom Party have walked out of the lower house of Austria’s parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

So they would walk out of a putin speech too? I am betting probably not.

Far-right, pro-Russian party uses term “ever-lasting neutrality”. Got it.

Funny how many of these far-right/authoritarian/fascist parties/groups (caucus?) have the word 'freedom' in their name.

Austria, a weak link in the EU armour.

Yea, it's kind of like when used car salesmen have 'honest' in their name. It is useful for disarming gullible people of their wits.

Lawmakers who walked out of the chamber left small placards on their desks featuring the party logo and either “space for neutrality” or “space for peace”.

You either have to be with your head deep into putins ass or be an idiot to leave a placard with "space for peace" on your desk and leave. For peace.

There are a number of parts in this that i find distressful.

Neutrality. What does that mean??? I understand you won't take sides in a conflict situation so does that mean you have no opinion? no empathy? Where/how is neutrality enforced? do you declare you are neutral and then what??? putin would say .."guys, i think they a neutral country, we cant have any special operation.."

also if you are "neutral" shouldn't you listen more??? understand/determine motivation??? i think people countries that blanket themselves under "neutrality" are not to be trusted nor played with.

what does pro-russian mean? does it mean eliminating freedom of speech? eliminating choosing who leads you?

i think we need more politicians, and people, who would be like Marcus Aurelius.

They went to "monitor" crimean takeover by russia, in their so called referendum. They also took part in the ceremony there after russia took over.

They are neo nazis with a new color.

About 30% of austrians vote for this Party. And about 60-70%, with these nazis included, are right wing and conservative.

They feel ok. Putin came for a wedding in carinthia for a minister a few years ago. Thst minister is now working for Gazprom.

Austria is like hungary.

The EU armor is like swiss cheese or like credit suisse.

i was thinking countries that have democratic in the name.

Oh, that's sad. I wish that wasn't so. Thank you.

Or that old gem those arguing on bad faith like to trot out about how Nazis had socialist in their party name so therefore were socialists.

But then I'm an Aussie, our National party sell us out to foreign interests, our Liberal party are social and economic conservatives, and our Labor party is captured by huge fossil fuel donors. Heck even our Greens are into neo-liberal economics half the time.

Those pro-russia lawmakers, I wonder how much money they receive from russia.

Watch the video. Austria is in full support with Ukraine, the neutrality only applies to military alliances and actions.

What do you mean by neutral countries should listen more? They are listening but they cannot do much if Russia is not willing to negotiate or make peace.

>Neutrality. What does that mean?

Austrian neutrality is defined in the constitution as a) not joining any military alliances and b) not allowing other countries to set up military bases on Austrian soil. That does not mean that the Austrian state lacks empathy as evidenced by Zelenskyi's speech we provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine (sending emergency vehicles, treating injured Ukrainians in our hospitals, etc.) - we also joined the EU-sanctions against Russia and I think we allowed Nato weapon deliveries to go through our airspace.

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Technically the Austrian armed forces are supposed to defend our neutrality but, while a stealthily inserted platoon of conscripts could destroy all of Russias alcohol supplies within a couple hours, they are decidedly less effective at fighting a possible invasion. Fortunately, we're surrounded by Nato countries so for Russia to invade they would have to trigger Nato article 5 first. Unlikely to happen, even more unlikely that Russia would make it to us under those circumstances. This wasn't always the case since the iron curtain was directly at our border for a long time in the past. Then as now the backup plans were: A) attract a lot of international organisations to Vienna (such as the UN office and the IAEA) in hopes that an invasion would cause international uproar and B) if the worst case happens and Russia invades we fire some obligatory shots in the direction of the border and wait for Nato to bail us out because the alternative is Germany's south and Italy's north flank being threathened.