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Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was received by Vladimir Putin on Monday 11 April. This is a first for a European leader since the intervention in Ukraine began, according to a press release issued by his cabinet after the meeting.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he was “rather pessimistic” after meeting Vladimir Putin, who wants to achieve “military success” in Ukraine. “We should have no illusions (…). President Putin has fallen en masse into a war logic and he is acting accordingly,” he told journalists at the end of his visit.
† The conversation with President Putin was frank, open and difficult.e,” said Karl Nehammer after this interview, which lasted a little over an hour and which, according to the Austrian press, did not give rise to a handshake. † I spoke about the serious war crimes in Boutcha and other places and said that all those responsible should be brought to justice added the Austrian chancellor.
Boutcha, a place near Kiev, has become a symbol of atrocities. Karl Nehammer, along with other Western officials, visited this weekend. Moscow has firmly rejected any involvement. † I made it clear to the Russian President that there is an urgent need to set up humanitarian corridors to bring water and food and to evacuate women, children and the wounded from besieged cities “, the chancellor underlined, emphasizing that it was not an issue” not a friendly visit †
The interview took place at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow. No image has been filtered out of the meeting and no joint press conference is planned. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, this closed-door format was chosen at the initiative of the Austrian side.
Visit after Ukraine
Karl Nehammer says he now wants to meet with his European colleagues to update them on this meeting and discuss next steps, while the European Union (EU) is currently preparing new sanctions. The Austrian conservative chancellor went to Moscow on his own initiative after a visit to Ukraine. he” has no European mandate ”, her foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg had indicated earlier Monday.
Karl Nehammer had to explain to Vladimir Putin that he ” isolate Russia, that he is going to lose this war morally, and that he is doing all the wrong things ‘ the head of diplomacy said. † Any voice that makes President Putin understand what reality is like outside the Kremlin walls is not a lost vote he estimated, acknowledging that ” no one expects a miracle †
The chancellor’s move was decided after talks in Kiev on Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as heads of EU institutions Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel. .
†Of AFP)