Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer reportedly seeks to become ‘bridge builder’ between two nations
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is expected to visit Moscow on Monday, both Russian and Austrian officials said Sunday.
The upcoming visit was first reported by Austrian Kronen Zeitung newspaper, which cited chancellery sources saying that the country’s leader was seeking to become a “bridge builder” and broker peace between Moscow and Kiev.
The visit has been coordinated with the EU leadership as well as Nehammer’s German counterpart Olaf Scholz.
Nehammer’s office confirmed the upcoming visit to TASS, while the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Austria’s leader will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Yes. We confirm [the talks],” Peskov told RIA Novosti.
On Saturday, Nehammer visited Kiev, meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as other top officials. During the visit, Chancellor expressed his support to Kiev, stating that the EU will continue to ramp-up anti-Russian sanctions “until the war stops.”
“As long as people are dying, every sanction is still insufficient,” Nehammer stated.
Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.Russia has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
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