The Features of the Austrian Neutrality Policy during the Ukrainian Crisis in 2022-2023

The Ukrainian crisis of 2022 had a significant impact on the geostrategic situation in Europe, influencing the desire of many European states to reconsider their approach to ensuring national security and their international “mission”. In context of the changed international conditions many neutrals were faced with a choice of abandoning neutrality or maintaining their foreign policy status. The Republic of Austria found itself in a similar situation, whose neutral policy began to be clearly “anti-Russian" in nature. After the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict, Austria's foreign policy was seriously condemned by both the West and Russia. Therefore, the inability of Austria to effectively explain the shift in neutrality only further discredited Vienna's ability to act as an international mediator in conflicts. Despite the large amount of work devoted to the study of neutrality and its features, the example of Austria as a neutral country was practically not considered by the scientific community. Moreover, the crisis of neutrality and in general changes in the policy of neutrals have not been studied in the context of the Ukrainian crisis of 2022. The key purpose of this study is to identify the main features that emerged after the outbreak of the military conflict on the territory of Ukraine. The method of discourse analysis used to study official statements and expert articles will help answer the research question posed. Finally, the results obtained during the study will be of great importance for stabilizing the situation in the region, since there will be an understanding of whether neutrality is effective in terms of ensuring national security and mediation function in conflicts.