Vienna: Waagner-Biro Bridge Systems makes modular steel overpasses that can span rivers and valleys in conflict zones. As Ukraine seeks help to restore infrastructure, the equipment might look like a perfect fit.

       Even as Russia’s war shows no signs of abating, Ukraine’s allies are already looking at how to rebuild and Austria wants to be front and centre of that effort. The Vienna-based company, though, hasn’t delivered a single bridge and chief executive officer Richard Kerschbaumer said he doesn’t expect that to change this year.

       Austria has profited from being a gateway to the east, but companies like Waagner-Biro are now hindered by decades of the country’s close ties with Russia and a political leadership that’s caught between promoting commercial interests and the country’s military neutrality.

       Ukraine expects handouts in exchange for its military sacrifice, but someone needs to pay for them, said Kerschbaumer. “Our hope is that not only Austria, but also Europe or the World Bank will release funding,” he said.

       Among the largest winners from the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, Austrian companies have reaped billions of euros each year from a web of subsidiaries spanning Russia to the Balkans. Ties to the region going back to the Habsburg Empire allowed Austrians to be among the first investors in economies looking to move on from their socialist past.

       But proximity and history are not enough in the latest conflict, and Austria appears less able to leverage its geography in a way it used to as the European Union and other donors come up with billions of euros for Ukraine.

       Politicians have been more bullish. Waagner-Biro was part of the Austrian delegation, along with companies such as construction giant Strabag, taking part in June’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, who represented Austria at the meeting, said the heavy commercial presence was a “political signal of hope”.

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       After the Cold War, Austrian banks, insurers and builders were among the first to move into Eastern Europe, investing heavily in ex-Soviet states and satellites, including Ukraine, and establishing themselves as dominant market players. Austria’s capital, Vienna, is closer to Ukraine’s border than Switzerland to the west.

       “The Austrian state is known for its close ties,” researchers at the Vienna-based think tank Agenda Austria wrote in response to questions. Austria’s “companies have a strategic advantage” and “should benefit greatly” from the reconstruction of Ukraine, whenever it happens.

       They will be competing, though, with firms from countries like France, Germany and the UK that have been directly involved in arming Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February last year.

       Officials across the political spectrum said Austria can’t legally provide the artillery and guns Ukraine needs to defend against invasion. Instead, the nation is helping in other ways, the officials argue. It’s taken in almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees while the Foreign Ministry said it’s spent more than ¤150mil on direct support.

       “It’s our responsibility to help Ukraine in the immediate term to reconstruct, especially infrastructure and housing,” Karoline Edtstadler, Austria’s minister for the EU and constitution, said at a conference on Aug 29. “That has already started and we need to continue to do that.”

       But the country is still the target of criticism for failing to sever economic ties with Russia. Raiffeisen Bank International AG, for example, runs the largest foreign-owned banks in both Russia and Ukraine. It has more than ¤3bil of profits stuck in Moscow, accumulated over a lucrative 18 months trading the ruble and withheld due to capital controls.

       The bank’s management has been gradually winding down its business in Russia while stalling on a review of options to sell or spin off the unit.

       Raiffeisen CEO Johann Strobl said this week he’s committed to getting rid of the Russian unit and blamed the delay on the regulatory authorities and the legal complexity of sanctions.

       “It’s not an excuse, it’s reality,” he told the same conference attended by Edtstadler. — Bloomberg