Putin to visit Austria, among EU's friendlier members

BERLIN (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is traveling to Austria on Tuesday on his first foreign trip since being sworn in for a fourth term in office last month. The visit, which marks the 50th anniversary of the start of Soviet gas deliveries to Austria, takes him to one of Europe's more Russia-friendly countries at a time when relations between the European Union and Russia are at a low ebb. It's his sixth official visit to Vienna.

EAST-WEST BRIDGE

Austria, unlike many other countries in the 28-nation EU, didn't expel Russian diplomats over the poisoning in Britain earlier this year of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.