Not 'Putin's Whore': Ousted Austrian Minister Karin Kneissl Denies Being a Kremlin Agent

Now the ousted Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, who resides in Russia, is defending herself, at a time when Vienna has become a den of Moscow's spies.

“I was humiliated and turned into an agent of the Kremlin,” the 59-year-old former diplomat explained in a video interview with AFP. “But I haven’t set foot there since 2018, so they have other fish to fry.”

From his time in government, we remember the waltz with the Russian president invited to his wedding, while Austria was presiding over the European Union.

She then headed the Alpine nation's diplomacy after being appointed in late 2017 by the far-right FPÖ movement, which is allied with Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

Karen Kneissl confirms that she has since distanced herself from the group “that she tried to get rid of” because she was “too independent.”

It also denies any role he played in recent Russian espionage cases, in which the secretary general of his ministry was in contact, according to investigators, with a suspected double agent.

Since the arrest of this dark fictional character, Egisto Ott, information has been received from the prosecution that spies close to the FPÖ are still working in state secrets.

“I have never met Mr. Ott, and I know nothing about all this and I am at the disposal of justice,” pleads Ms. Kneissl.

“Odyssey”

After becoming popular among Austrians as head of state, she says she witnessed a brutal descent into hell, marked by images of her “dance with the Kaiser” that spread around the world.

Karin Kneissl, who speaks eight languages, says she left Austria in September 2020, just over a year after leaving the government.

She talks about the attacks she was subjected to in the street and the insults directed at her, while she “happened to be called Putin’s whore.”

This ENA graduate, who regularly broadcasts on air and speaks good French, first left for France, where her interventions on the channel that was later banned from broadcasting in the European Union were not appreciated by the authorities.

Unable to open a bank account and find permanent housing, she says she “lived on the street, on a bed” for a while, before heading to Lebanon, which she knows well as a specialist in the Middle East.

The University of Saint Petersburg then offered her the opportunity to head a research institute, which she did in September 2023, “finally packing her bags” for Russia, “after being so tired of this journey.”

She previously served on the supervisory board of Russian oil giant Rosneft, a position she left in May 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which she did not explicitly condemn during a BBC interview last year.

She says she was paid a total of “$350,000 net” for the role.

With his ponies

To reach Russia from the Middle East, she then admits that she contacted the Russian authorities “for the first time”, due to the lack of a solution, with the aim of “moving” the animals, including two foals, who were following her throughout her journey. a trip.

Happy to remain anonymous in her host country, she says her role now is to “create ideas”, for example “to guarantee Russian exports” without relying on the Western players who dominate maritime transport.

She notes in passing that “as the world turns to other horizons,” Russia is being treated as a pariah by its natural clients who are forging “accelerating” ties “with Iran, China or Zimbabwe.”

Now separated from her husband, a rare Westerner who has moved east, Karin Kneissl wants to settle permanently in a rural area on the outskirts of Moscow, go teaching all over Russia and commute to St. Petersburg.

She recalls these last years of controversy in a book published in Russian, and confirms that, despite all her setbacks, she does not regret cheating on Vladimir Putin in her wedding dress.

She says: “Minister or non-minister, I dance with whoever I want.”