ZURICH, April 10 – Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, he said, adding he hoped to help build bridges between Russia and Ukraine and the end “war of aggression”.
Nehammer’s meeting would be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and an EU leader since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, sparking a broad Western effort to isolate Moscow.
“I will meet Vladimir #Putin in Moscow tomorrow,” Nehammer wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
“We are militarily neutral, (have) but a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against #Ukraine,” he wrote, referring to Austria’s position. “It has to stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire and a full investigation into war crimes.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the RIA news agency that Putin would hold talks with Nehammer on Monday.
The Russian leader has been largely shunned by Western leaders since the start of the conflict, although he met Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the Kremlin in early March. Continue reading
Nehammer’s planned trip to Moscow comes after he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday.
Nehammer told journalists he wanted to act as a “bridge builder” between Russia and Ukraine with the Moscow visit, hoping to “do everything possible to stop[the war]” and “ensure steps are taken in that direction.” of peace”, reported the Austrian news agency APA.
However, he added that the chances of making any progress are slim, APA said.
Neutral Austria has provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid, as well as helmets and body armor for civilians instead of weapons. Nehammer, a conservative, was visibly moved by the phone conversations with Zelenskyy and says he wants to show his support.
Nehammer said on Twitter that he had informed other “European partners” about his visit to Moscow, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan “and of course the Ukrainian President “. Zelenskyj.
His planned visit was criticized in some German-language media and by at least one Ukrainian official.
Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, told the German newspaper Bild that such a visit is currently unacceptable.
“The war crimes that Russia is committing right now on Ukrainian soil are still happening,” Orlov said during a TV program. “I don’t understand how you can have a conversation with Putin at this time, how you can do business with him.”
Russia has denied war crimes allegations by Ukraine and western countries. It has said it is not targeting civilians during what it calls a “special operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” its neighbor.
Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi Editing by Alex Richardson and Frances Kerry