This is in historical context rather ridiculous. This is actually related to the Gulf War, and Iraq (yay, the Western ally in the greater region) formerly prominently supplying Austrian demand. With sanctions and then the war, Austria was looking for alternative sources and settled on Russia, which offered long-term guarantees and has thus stepped into the role of the most prominent supplier, since. (I actually do remember the then federal minister stepping in front of TV cameras and declaring supplies secured, thanks to this "historic deal".) In hindsight, this is more a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Not that there hadn't been internal and external pressure to do anything about this, but, as infrastructure had developed, there was – and still is – not much of an alternative. Mind that some German natural gas storage is located in Austria and is supplied by the same sources, as well.
This is in historical context rather ridiculous. This is actually related to the Gulf War, and Iraq (yay, the Western ally in the greater region) formerly prominently supplying Austrian demand. With sanctions and then the war, Austria was looking for alternative sources and settled on Russia, which offered long-term guarantees and has thus stepped into the role of the most prominent supplier, since. (I actually do remember the then federal minister stepping in front of TV cameras and declaring supplies secured, thanks to this "historic deal".) In hindsight, this is more a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Not that there hadn't been internal and external pressure to do anything about this, but, as infrastructure had developed, there was – and still is – not much of an alternative. Mind that some German natural gas storage is located in Austria and is supplied by the same sources, as well.