Austria’s former foreign minister is attracted to Putin’s birthplace for reasons

Karin Kneissl has finally secured a top spot on Putin’s list of useful idiots: the former politician of the right-wing Austrian FPÖ is actually moving to the Russian president’s birthplace. In St. Petersburg, she will head “a think tank she founded,” the 58-year-old reportedly said on Tuesday, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

A journalist from the “Aargauer Zeitung” summarized in June what was behind it: it was about giving Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine and his delusion about the resurrection of the Great Russian Empire a pseudo-scientific legitimacy.

The responses on the online platform X are also profound. A critical report on the Kremlin says:

And there are also voices saying that Austria should immediately revoke Kneissl’s citizenship.

‘Blood money’ for the Kremlin

Kneissl served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2019; she was nominated by the right-wing extremist Freedom Party (FPÖ). She was sharply criticized for her close ties to the Russian president, who attended her wedding in the Austrian Alps in 2018. And her holiday to Russia in August, in the middle of the war of aggression against Ukraine, also caused horror.

In Saint Petersburg, Kneissl heads the ‘GORKI’ center, which was founded in March 2023. According to its website, this Russian think tank aims to “prepare objective analyzes to find solutions to Russia’s political goals.” The institute is affiliated with St. Petersburg State University, where Putin studied law in the 1970s, writes Politico.

Austria has traditionally maintained close relations with Russia. Although the country supports EU sanctions and publicly criticizes Putin’s war, which violates international law, the country maintains trade ties with Moscow and remains one of the few EU countries still importing Russian gas.

Last week, the European Commission’s envoy to Austria, Martin Selmayr, caused a stir when he publicly criticized the import of Russian gas and accused Vienna of paying “blood money” to Moscow.

In recent months there have been several reports that Kneissl had emigrated to Russia. In a video she raved in bumpy Russian about Russian rural life with chickens and goats – and also announced that she wanted to expand her Telegram channel.

Sources

(dsc)