Trade and Economic Relations as an Instrument of Soviet Policy to Maintain Austria's Neutrality (1955—1964)

Abstract

Trade and economic relations played an important role for the Soviet Union in the policy of maintaining Austrian neutrality. This was expressed, on the one hand, in the desire to prevent Austria from joining the structures of European integration, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community. On the other hand, the Soviet Union made considerable efforts to develop bilateral trade and increase its own trade turnover with Austria. Such combined actions were supposed to have an impact on the preservation and transformation of Austrian neutrality in the manner necessary for the Soviet Union.