Austria’s Ex-Foreign Minister, Karin Kneissl, and Her Ponies Head to St. Petersburg.
Karin Kneissl used to live in Lebanon. She left her government job because of a scandal involving the far-right Austrian party that put her in that position.
She mentioned that her two ponies were transported to St. Petersburg from Syria on a Russian military plane.
Kneissl explained that she chose to go to Russia to lead a think tank at St. Petersburg University. She said, “I co-started the Gorki center and manage it. It requires a lot of focus and time, so I can’t do it on the side. That’s why I decided to move to St. Petersburg for this job.”
When the BBC asked her about her move to Russia’s second-largest city, she didn’t provide a comment. However, she shared on social media that living in Lebanon was a temporary solution for her to get by, as she was traveling back and forth to Russia to teach.
Kneissl is known for her love of animals. She mentioned on social media that due to sanctions against Syria and the unstable situation there, using a military plane was her only option to bring her ponies and other belongings to Russia.
Karin Kneissl served as Austria’s foreign minister from 2017 to 2019. She was chosen for the position by Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which is known for its strong ties to Russia.
In 2018, she made news by inviting Vladimir Putin to her wedding in southern Austria. Pictures were released showing her dancing with the Russian president.
Ms. Kneissl announced her move to Russia while she was in Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum, a yearly event promoting investment in Russia’s far east.
During Mr. Putin’s main speech at the forum, she was seen appearing to doze off as the cameras showed the audience.
Karin Kneissl frequently appears on Russia’s state-backed news channel RT and used to be on the board of a state-owned oil company called Rosneft.
She left Austria in 2020 because she received death threats and felt like she couldn’t work there anymore.
Previously, she was part of the government, which included conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party (FP). This government fell apart in 2019 when FP leader Heinz Christian Strache was caught in a video offering government contracts to someone who pretended to be related to a Russian oligarch.
The Freedom Party is not in power right now but is leading in the polls, so they might return to government in the next year’s elections. The party’s new leader, Herbert Kickl, criticized the EU’s sanctions on Russia because he believes they caused the cost of living to rise. Kickl used to be the interior minister when Kneissl was in the government.
Austria’s allies in the EU and the West were concerned about Kickl’s connections to Russia back then, and some think those connections haven’t gone away. Peter Gridling, who was Austria’s intelligence chief from 2008 to 2020, expressed his worries about the Freedom Party’s links to Russia, saying they still have contact with Russia.
Vienna, Austria’s capital, has a history of being a hub for espionage, and this tradition continues even today.
SOURCE: BBC