Austria supports the EU sanctions against Russia, but apparently does not want to cause permanent damage to its lucrative business relations with Moscow. Trade relations between the two countries remain intact, with money flowing largely as it did before the war.
In 1968, the government in Vienna was the first Western European country to sign a contract with the Soviet Union for the long-term supply of natural gas. Austria was one of the few EU countries that did not send Russian diplomats home after the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in England.