Austrian walkout and Belarus nuclear plan: late March 2023
A look back at two political developments reported around 31 March 2023, from Vienna's parliament to Moscow's announcement on Belarus.
What was the political mood in Europe on 31 March 2023? It was shaped by two developments reported in the days just before that date.
On 30 March 2023, lawmakers from the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria walked out of the lower house of Austria's parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They described the walkout as a protest against the violation of Austria's national principle of neutrality.
Five days earlier, on 25 March 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July. The missiles were to be operated by Russian forces. It would be the first time Russian nuclear weapons had been deployed abroad since 1996.
Taken together, the two reports showed the war in Ukraine reaching into political debate in a neutral EU country and into Russia's plans for its neighbour Belarus.
