National Security Council meets in Vienna

2023-06-27 19:03:00

The 60th session of the National Security Council will take place at 5.30 p.m. in the Federal Chancellery behind closed doors, a government spokeswoman for the APA announced on Tuesday. The deliberations on “Current developments in Russia and their effects” are confidential.

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In addition to Nehammer, the Security Council includes Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) and Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (all ÖVP) and representatives of the parliamentary parties represented in the main committee. After the advance of the Wagner mercenary group on Moscow on Saturday, the SPÖ had called for the convening of the National Security Council.

Nehammer had shown concern on Saturday. “The events in the Russian Federation are always of the greatest strategic importance because Russia has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons,” he said on the sidelines of the “European Forum” Göttweig. “Nuclear weapons must not fall into the wrong hands.”

The government’s crisis cabinet met at the Ministry of Defense on Sunday. After that, it was announced that the Foreign Ministry had issued a partial travel warning for the administrative regions bordering Ukraine (Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh, Rostov, Krasnodar), and the Interior Ministry had increased protective measures for certain facilities. “We will not allow an internal Russian conflict to be fought on Austrian soil,” said Nehammer.

On Monday, Karner explained that state security reacted immediately after the Wagner troop became aware of the events. “Orders were given” to “increase police operations in some areas,” said the interior minister. For reasons of police tactics, he “didn’t want to say where,” but it was about “buildings or people who could be in danger here.” The task of ensuring the safety of Austrians “and the people living here” is “very consistent”.

Defense Minister Tanner said in a press statement immediately before the Security Council: “We have a risk profile, we have a new armed forces profile, and the best security guarantee is the equipment of the Austrian Armed Forces.” The world has become less secure, “and the last few days have shown that the situation in Russia is unstable.” The situation changes every hour, “that’s why it’s all the more important that we monitor it all the more intensively. That’s what our services do perfectly.” Forming the federal army “into a modern army” is therefore all the more important, she said, referring to the 2032 development plan. The Austrian federal army is an essential part of security policy.

The new SPÖ leader Andreas Babler criticized the federal government’s approach as not “professional”. Now he is “glad” to finally get together. It is important to involve the opposition and speak with one voice.

FPÖ club boss Herbert Kickl said before the committee: “First of all you have to get a uniform picture of the situation.” Then you can determine whether there is currently a serious threat.

Vice-Chancellor Kogler made it clear that it was an “information security council, not a decision-making security council”. It is important to spread the information across the “parliamentary breadth”. He countered the critics by saying that the government “of course” had the situation under control. He also reiterated his statement that current events underpin the plan to end dependence on Russian gas supplies. “It’s going to be difficult enough: we know what the previous governments did here.”

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigoshin marched into Russia on Saturday night with his mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. The troops came to about 200 kilometers from Moscow. Negotiations mediated by the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko stopped the advance on Saturday evening, and the Wagner troops left Rostov-on-Don, a city of over a million inhabitants in southern Russia, which they had previously occupied. According to President Vladimir Putin, the rebellion threatened Russia’s existence. Prigozhin and his fighters were assured exile in Belarus and impunity.

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