Ex-Austrian FM moves to Russian village
The former head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Karin Kneissl, has attended a local cultural festival in a small village in central Russia, after recently renting a house in the area, a local media outlet reported on Tuesday.
Kneissl was filmed talking to village residents and making a brief speech at the annual ‘Height of Summer’ cultural festival, which is held in the village of Petrushevo in Ryazan Region. The former top Austrian diplomat praised the “super-positive atmosphere” at the event and recalled her own life in a “small Austrian village.”
According to the Vid Sboku news media outlet, the village has become popular among foreigners willing to stay in Russia, and some French citizens have bought houses in the area.
Kneissl told the media outlet that she plans to stay in the village for at least a month but “knows nothing” about her future beyond that. “I had to leave my old life behind and start anew. That is not easy when you’re 60,” she said.
The former foreign minister had to leave her homeland back in 2022 after receiving death threats, telling the Washington Post in July 2022 that she was no longer giving interviews because of the warnings.
After serving as Austria’s foreign minister between 2017 and 2019, Kneissl was nominated for a position at Russian oil giant Rosneft in March 2021, becoming the first woman on the company’s board. She was also a contributor at RT, writing opinion pieces on Russia’s relationship with the West, as well as other issues.
After the EU joined the US in imposing sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, Kneissl was forced to resign from the Rosneft board. The day before she did so, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for personal sanctions against European politicians still holding ties to Russian businesses, with Kneissl and Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, mentioned by name.
After leaving her homeland, she first moved to France but had to flee after “agitation” from Austria caught up with her there as well. In June 2022, she traveled to Lebanon, where she received a residence permit and stayed for at least six months, according to her personal website.
Kneissl said “it was not easy to come” to Russia but she was seeking “to find her own way.” In June, it was revealed that she was offered a position as the head of a new Russian think tank, the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues (GORKI).
Established as a division of the St. Petersburg State University, the think tank focuses on West Asia studies and energy issues.
