Vladimir Putin is to attend the wedding of Austria’s foreign minister, Karin Kneissl, triggering outrage among critics who say the invitation undermines the EU’s stance against Russia over Ukraine.
The Russian president will drop by on Saturday afternoon to raise a glass to Kneissl and her groom, the businessman Wolfgang Meilinger, in a vineyard in Austria’s picturesque Styria region, before flying to Berlin for talks that evening with Angela Merkel.
Described by the Austrian foreign ministry as a “personal visit”, Putin’s brief appearance will be accompanied by the usual security measures for the visit of a foreign state visitor, a spokesman told Der Standard.
“It will be a private celebration and a personal visit. No change will result in terms of Austria’s foreign policy position.”
Kneissl, an independent, owes her appointment as foreign minister to the populist, anti-immigrant Freedom party (FPÖ), the junior party in Austria’s ruling coalition.
The Eurosceptic and openly pro-Russia party has signed a “cooperation agreement” with Putin’s United Russia party, and Kneissl’s close ties to the Russian leader are raising questions in the EU over where Austria’s loyalties lie. The FPÖ has supported Russia’s claim to Crimea and called for the easing of sanctions on Moscow.
The Austrian government was now seen “as the extended arm of the Russian regime in the European Union” and was “gambling away the country’s good reputation”, the Austrian Green MEP Michel Reimon told Der Standard on Thursday.
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