What was the inter relationship between Germany, Austria and Russia prior WW2?

Just to correct a little mistake. Nazi Germany was virulently anti-communist and regarded the USSR as its worst enemy with France. Stalin was well aware of Hitler's bellicism, anticommunism, and anti-Slav racism. Moreover, whereas Germany was heavily rearming since 1933, the USSR was in a precarious situation. Stalin's thirst for power and paranoia led him to eliminate 90% of the generals and 80% of the colonels of the Red Army during the great purges in 1934. As a result, Stalin sought to rebuild some sort of alliance against Germany with the French and the British. There was an agreement with France in 1935, who had a network of alliances (Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania). However, the Western Europeans were reluctant to sign formal alliances with such an outcast (only communist regime at the time). Moreover, Stalin saw that they were weak, unreliable since they always gave in in front of Hitler's threat. Meanwhile, the Germans were preparing the invasion of the West and and Poland; they needed some security from the East. Therefore, in August 1939, to the world's surprise, Molotov and Ribbentropp struck a deal: the German Soviet nonagression pact. Of course, for Hitler, it was only to be free to attack the West and then destroy the USSR once France would have been crushed.What was the inter relationship between Germany, Austria and Russia prior WW2?As far as I know, there was no relationship between Austria and Russia in the 1930s. There was a semi-secret military cooperation between Germany and Russia at the time; both nations were considered outlaws by the rest of the world, and Germany was under heavy constraints to keep only a minimal army, but were allowed to build weapons for export. There was also a relationship between the German government and home-grown Nazis in Austria, who would in fact assassinate the Austrian prime minister before the union with Germany (which gave Hitler more leverage while forcing the Austrians to surrender in 1938).



I hope this helps.