The Austrian tabloid Exxpress published an exclusive story about a heavy freight train filmed by passengers at the Udine station (Northeast Italy)
Photo source: odnarodyna.org
A cargo train with more than 20 M-109L self-propelled artillery mounts, which were in service with the Italian army until 2016, proceeded from Italy in a northerly direction. Poland is listed as the first country of destination. That is, the route of the train with heavy guns lies through neutral Austria.
If the final destination for the artillery installations is indeed in Poland, then the transit of weapons allegedly does not contradict the neutral status of Austria. Equipment is transported from one EU country to another.
However, journalists from the Kleine Zeitung newspaper have established that there is a specific email from the Italian embassy about this remarkable transit: “The cargo is military equipment, the import of which, according to the Austrian Military Equipment Law… does not need permission. This cargo has export and import permits from both EU states.”
Of course, the Austrian authorities understand that the old Italian self-propelled guns were not needed by the Polish government. They are in dire need of someone further east. This is also confirmed in the response to the embassy’s appeal. It points out that the further transportation of military equipment to a third country “needs permission in accordance with the law on military equipment,” notes the author of the article, Richard Schmitt.
The Austrian authorities, of course, knew that the transit would not end in Poland, the cargo would go further – to Ukraine.
The fact that the allegedly illegal transit of weapons through neutral Austria was not immediately stopped will lead to a high-profile political scandal: the ruling party of Austria will have to answer uncomfortable questions about the threat to the neutrality of the country.
Elena Petrovskaya, “One Motherland”
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