Diplomatic dance causes controversy

It was the wedding event of the Austrian summer, and the country’s political stars were there.

Plus a foreign guest who brought with him a bouquet of yellow flowers, a troupe of singing Cossacks and a heap of controversy.

When Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl tied the knot with Wolfgang Meilinger, an entrepreneur, Russian President Vladimir Putin was on hand to give his blessing. He stayed for a little over an hour and briefly danced with the bride. His gift was a performance by a choir outfitted in vivid red and flown in from Russia.

The personal event took on a very public meaning for Europe.

Austria has for decades been neutral in the struggle between East and West, maintaining strong ties with both Russia and with its allies in the European Union. But the small Alpine country has pivoted towards to Moscow since the end of last year, when a coalition of the centre-right People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party took office.

The wedding gave Putin a highly symbolic platform to demonstrate his deepening ties with political leaders in Europe. Russia has sought to sow division on the continent. That effort has received a boost by the electoral Karin Kneissl and Vladimir Putin.

success of populist parties, many of which share Moscow’s contempt for Brussels.

Putin’s presence was criticised by opposition lawmakers in Austria. “How is Austria’s presidency of the European Union meant to live up to the Government’s own claims of building bridges and being an honest broker when Austria’s Foreign Minister and Chancellor are so obviously on one side?” asked Andreas Schieder, of the Social Democrats.

“If you invite Vladimir Putin to your wedding, you are not neutral anymore,” tweeted Ukraine’s foreign affairs committee chair, Hanna Hopko. “From now on, Austria can’t be a mediator in Ukraine. Period.”