Klaudia Tanner, the Minister of Defence of Austria, has reaffirmed her steadfast stance regarding Austria's potential involvement in mine clearance operations in Ukraine prior to the conclusion of hostilities.
Interestingly, She considers such participation to be a violation of the country's constitutional neutrality.
The source of this information is a recent interview conducted by Tanner with Austrian radio station Ö1, as reported by European Pravda.
Furthermore, Tanner expressed the view that it is currently challenging to differentiate between humanitarian mine clearance and military mine clearance in Ukraine.
Additionally, she highlighted that Austria's demining equipment is presently deployed in the Western Balkans, further limiting their immediate capacity to engage in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, Tanner emphasized that Austria remains committed to supporting Ukraine's humanitarian demining efforts on a financial level, aligning with the assistance provided by the European Union.
The Defence Minister diverged from the position expressed by Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, who called for urgent assistance to Ukraine in the realm of humanitarian mine clearance.
It would also interest you to know that Tanner firmly believes that aid in demining Ukraine should only be provided after the cessation of hostilities, as conducting such operations during wartime would infringe upon constitutional rights.
She expressed concerns regarding the potential misuse of mine clearance operations by belligerents to launch strategic attacks, arguing that the restoration of safer traffic routes might inadvertently facilitate such actions.
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