Heinz-Christian Strache, the vice chancellor of Austria and the leader of the opposition far-right Freedom Party of Austria gave a statement to the public where he asserted his intentions to end all European sanctions against Russia as soon as possible. His statement came in the form of a quoted interview transcribed in the Austrian daily Österreich on the 3rd of June.
President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Strache on the 5th of June during his trip to Vienna. Heinz-Christian Strache’s party is well known for its pro-Moscow attitude, and was notorious for not being supportive when the United States led the EU to impose heavy sanctions against Moscow after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine back in 2014. In his published statement, Strache appealed to the public to put an end to all the ‘exasperating sanctions’ and normalize political and economic relations between Russia and the EU, starting from Austria. Thus, Austria’s coalition government reinforces its intentions to serve as a bridge between the East and the West, which has now officially rivalled Chancellor Kurz’ pro-EU stance.
These remarks by Strache add another topic to be discussed at the diplomatic conferences which have been held around Europe as part of its diplomatic push to control the perpetual conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Heiko Maas, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs has invited his fellow Foreign Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian, Pavlo Klimkin, and Sergey Lavrov for a meeting to discuss the Ukrainian conflict on the 11th of June in Berlin. Any possible chances of the EU lifting its sanctions on Russia, however, have not yet been discussed within the union.