Austrian ex-minister who danced with Putin moves to Russia

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, known for dancing with Vladimir Putin at her wedding, will move to the Russian president’s hometown of St. Petersburg to lead a think tank she created.

“I co-founded the GORKI center and manage it. Since there is a lot of work there and it requires a lot of attention … I decided to move to St. Petersburg for this work,” Kneissl told Russian state-owned news agency TASS on Tuesday.

Created in March 2023, the center aims to “prepare objective analysis to find solutions” to Russia’s policy objectives, according to its website. GORKI is affiliated with the St. Petersburg State University, where Putin studied law in the 1970s.

Kneissl served as Austria’s foreign minister from 2017 to 2019, nominated for the position by the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). She has drawn criticism for her close links to the Russian president, who attended her wedding in 2018 in the Austrian Alps, and for holidaying in Russia as recently as August, amid the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday, Kneissl also criticized Austria’s behavior toward Russia, comparing it to “schizophrenia.”

“Austrian politics and public opinion do not get tired of condemning Russia,” she said, adding that those who still have business ties to Russia are labeled as “earning bloody money,” TASS reported.

Last week, the EU Commission’s envoy to Austria, Martin Selmayr, caused a furor after he critiqued the country’s import of Russian gas, accusing Vienna of paying “blood money” to Moscow. The remark resulted in Austria’s current Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg summoning Selmayr to answer for his comments, in a row that Vienna has since sought to de-escalate.

Austria has historic ties to Russia. While the country has endorsed EU sanctions and publicly criticized Putin’s violation of international law, it has maintained commercial ties with Moscow, and remains one of the few EU countries which still imports Russian gas.

politico.eu