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“She has a number of expertise — specifically the European expertise of treating nature, restoring what has been misplaced, and he or she understands like nobody else how tough it’s and what nice efforts the Russian Federation is making,” the director stated.
Kneissl, who is thought for dancing with Putin at her wedding ceremony, shouldn’t be solely eager to defend endangered species — she has been a vocal advocate for Russia, her new residence, on the worldwide stage.
The diplomat headed the international ministry in Vienna from 2017 to 2019, as an appointee of the far-right Freedom Party. Her wedding ceremony in the summertime of 2018 drew worldwide consideration when the Russian president not solely attended the occasion, but in addition danced a waltz with bride. Kneissl, then the pinnacle of Austrian diplomacy, even curtsied to Putin.
The following 12 months, the far-right party was rocked by its chief’s Russian collusion scandal and its ministers, together with Kneissl, have been kicked out of the federal government.
But the Russians gave her an opportunity at a brand new life: she turned a daily on RT, the Kremlin-backed worldwide information channel, and in 2021 she joined the board of Rosneft, a state-owned oil firm.
Last 12 months, Kneissl moved to Russia to go a assume tank in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. She engages actively in diplomacy for Moscow having, as an example, delivered a speech this July at a United Nations assembly calling for an finish to arms provides to Ukraine.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry was bemused by its former chief’s U.N. speech: “It appears that the foolish season has additionally arrived in Russia,” a spokesperson stated on the time.
