At Austrian foreign minister’s wedding, Putin brings music, flowers, controversy
It was the wedding event of the Austrian summer, and all the stars of the country’s political universe 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 at a vineyard in the hills of southern Austria on Saturday afternoon, local time, 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; he in a dark blue suit, she in a cream-andwhite dirndl, the region’s traditional dress. His gift to the newlyweds was a performance by a deep-voiced choir outfitted in vivid red and flown in from Russia just for the occasion.
The country’s Foreign Ministry said the ceremony was private, with just 100 attendees. But with Putin among them, the personal event took on a very public meaning for Europe while generating a backlash in Austria.
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, not to mention the United States.
But the small Alpine country of 9 million has pivoted toward to Moscow since the end of last year, when a government coalition of the center-right People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party took office. The latter in 2016 signed a cooperation pact with Putin’s United Russia Party.
The 53-year-old Kneissl, an academic and journalist before taking office in December, is officially independent. But she was selected for her post by the Freedom Party.
Like the party, she opposes Europe’s sanctions against Russia. When other EU nations expelled Russian diplomats in March in retaliation for the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil, Austria pointedly declined to take part. As Putin and President Trump planned their summit this summer, the Kremlin initially favoured Vienna as the venue before Helsinki won out.
Although Kneissl is not believed to be personally close to Putin, she invited him to her wedding when he visited Vienna in June. The Kremlin announced he had accepted the invitation this week. Kneissl married Wolfgang Meilinger, an entrepreneur.
The wedding gave Putin a highly symbolic platform to demonstrate his deepening ties with political leaders in Europe. Putin has long regarded the EU as an adversary, and Russia has sought to sow division on the continent. – Washington Post