Austria’s former foreign minister Karin Kneissl, who made international headlines after she danced with Russian President Vladimir Putin at her wedding in 2018, is emigrating to Russia to lead a think tank.
Kneissl was foreign minister of Austria between 2017 and 2019 but has since fallen from grace due to her pro-Russian remarks. Now she took up the job to lead the Gorki Centre, a think tank that is associated with the University of St. Petersburg and deals with geopolitics.
“I was the co-founder of the Gorky Centre and I run it. Because there is a lot of work there and the centre needs a lot of attention, I cannot do this on the side, and I have decided to move to Saint Petersburg for this work,” she told TASS on Tuesday.
Kneissl said that she had already received all the papers, such as a work visa, and had “moved into a flat in St. Petersburg”.
The Kremlin is reported to have directly helped her move to Russia. Even Kneissl’s ponies were flown into the country on a Russian military plane, Russian media Insider reported.
Kneissl has become one of the most prominent former European politicians to take up jobs in Russia in recent years.
In 2021, she accepted a position on the board of Russian oil giant Rosneft but left in May of last year after months of pressure following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kneissl already emigrated from Austria to France in 2022.
In an interview with RTL at the time, she said her departure was not voluntary and that she “had to flee” Austria because of a “de facto work ban” and a lot of hostility.
(Oliver Noyan | Euractiv.de)
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