Moscow complains about hostile “baiting” in Austria
In a report, diplomats note increasing anti-Russian sentiment and discrimination against Russians living abroad.
The report by the Russian Foreign Ministry deals with “violations of the rights of Russian citizens and Russians abroad” – a topic that seems to concern Moscow. Austria also had to put up with sharp criticism in the report that was recently published: the ministry complains that the previously calm situation for Russian citizens has changed massively “after the start of the ongoing special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine”.
“As part of a conspicuous display of ‘Cancel Culture,’ everything Russian and associated with Russia is hate speech and discrimination,” the authors write. They also state a “clearly articulated anti-Russian position” by the federal government in Vienna.
In the report, Moscow refers to “attacks on websites by Russians living abroad” that led to the blocking of a Facebook group. After the DDOS attack at the beginning of March and after threats, the editor-in-chief of Austria-Today.ru, Alexej Kusin, stopped publishing on the site. This accusation by the foreign office is not correct. The Russian-language website recently published new articles on a regular basis.
The report also lists “bias” towards Russian children in kindergartens and schools. In educational institutions, materials about Russia and the “events in Ukraine” would be imparted one-sidedly. There is also criticism of Austrian banks and the termination of cooperation in the cultural sector such as the Salzburg Festival.
(“Die Presse”, print edition, 05.06.2022)