Schallenberg feels misunderstood after Russia’s statement – Austria
After criticism from Poland and Ukraine of his statements on dealing with Russia, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg sees no need for clarification.
“A sentence was really taken completely out of context here,” said Schallenberg to the “Krone” (Sunday). “I stand by every word,” said the Foreign Minister. Kyiv knows exactly where Austria and he stand, namely on the side of Ukraine. Despite all the “emotionality”, he did not want to overestimate the criticism.
Schallenberg’s statements about Russia caused criticism
Last Monday, Schallenberg hung up on sharp criticism from Ukraine and Poland, because in a speech at a conference in Paris on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine he had advocated maintaining a “moderate approach” towards Moscow. “If you had read a line further, the misunderstanding would not have arisen in the first place. ́ Incidentally, we have never imposed visa bans on Iran or North Korea either,” said Schallenberg.
Quoting Egon Baar, German politician and architect of Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik, Schallenberg argued that Russia would not disappear from the map. “Therefore, we must not make the mistake of equating Putin and his henchmen with Russia and its people,” said the Foreign Minister.
“Don’t attach so much importance to the emotionality of the moment”
He is sure that British President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba know exactly “where the Austrian government and where I stand, namely on the side of Ukraine. You don’t have to attach so much importance to the emotionality of the moment”.
Also with regard to Poland, whose Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski had placed Schallenberg’s statements with reference to his predecessor Karin Kneissl’s proximity to Russia “in the bad tradition of the Austrian Foreign Ministry”, Schallenberg said that, despite all the emotionality, he was “not so big “I believe that our Polish friends also know that there has been a change of government in the meantime,” said the foreign minister. He was the first foreign minister in the Second Republic who – even before the aggressive war – hired a Russian diplomat “Persona non grata” declared, Schallenberg continued.