Austria’s Chancellor Nehammer says held ‘direct, hard’ talks with Putin
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Austria's Karl Nehammer (right) is the first EU leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Ukraine invasion.
PHOTO: AFP
VIENNA (AFP, REUTERS) – Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met Vladimir Putin on Monday (April 11), the first European leader to visit the Russian president since the start of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Just over an hour after the meeting started at around 4pm local time in Putin’s residence in Moscow, Nehammer’s office sent out a statement saying that it had ended.
In the statement Nehammer said the meeting was not “a visit of friendship,” adding that conversation between the two men had been “direct, open and hard”.
“I mentioned the serious war crimes in Bucha and other locations and stressed that all those responsible have to be brought to justice,” he said.
Russia denies its forces have committed war crimes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Austrian side had requested the meeting be held behind closed doors.
On the topic of sanctions Nehammer said he had “told President Putin very clearly that the sanctions will remain and be intensified as long as people keep dying in Ukraine”.
Nehammer also told Putin of the “urgent” need for humanitarian corridors “to bring water and food into besieged towns and (to) remove women, children and the injured”.
“I will now inform our European partners about the conversation and discuss further steps,” he said.
Nehammer’s trip to Moscow follows a visit to Kyiv on Saturday where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Just over an hour after the meeting started at around 4pm local time in Putin’s residence in Moscow, Nehammer’s office sent out a statement saying that it had ended.
In the statement Nehammer said the meeting was not “a visit of friendship,” adding that conversation between the two men had been “direct, open and hard”.
“I mentioned the serious war crimes in Bucha and other locations and stressed that all those responsible have to be brought to justice,” he said.
Russia denies its forces have committed war crimes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Austrian side had requested the meeting be held behind closed doors.
On the topic of sanctions Nehammer said he had “told President Putin very clearly that the sanctions will remain and be intensified as long as people keep dying in Ukraine”.
Nehammer also told Putin of the “urgent” need for humanitarian corridors “to bring water and food into besieged towns and (to) remove women, children and the injured”.
“I will now inform our European partners about the conversation and discuss further steps,” he said.
Nehammer’s trip to Moscow follows a visit to Kyiv on Saturday where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said earlier on Monday that Mr Nehammer would tell Mr Putin that he “is isolating Russia, that he will lose this war morally, and that he is doing everything wrong that can be done wrong”.
Mr Schallenberg added that the trip was aimed at pleading for humanitarian corridors to be set up to alleviate the “hell” the campaign had caused in Ukraine.
The corridors would be to evacuate civilians trapped in places such as the city of Mariupol, and for “international humanitarian organisations to be able to conduct their work,” Mr Schallenberg said.
He said Mr Nehammer decided to go to Moscow following a visit to Kyiv on Saturday and talks with Zelensky.
