First European leader to meet Putin after the war in Ukraine
Austrian Chancellor Nehammer will meet Putin in Moscow, becoming the first European leader to meet a Russian president after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.
“I will meet Mr. Putin in Moscow tomorrow”, Prime Minister Shirt Karl Nehammer posted on Twitter on April 10. Mr. Nehammer affirmed that Austria is neutral, but has a clear position on the military campaign of Russia in Ukraine and called on the President Vladimir Putin end hostilities, open humanitarian corridors, cease fire and “investigate war crimes”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the same day confirmed that President Putin will hold talks with Prime Minister Nehammer on April 11. The meeting took place after Prime Minister Nehammer’s arrival Ukraine April 9 and met with President Volodymr Zelensky.
Prime Minister Nehammer said he had informed other European partners about the trip to Russia, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukraine President.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during a press conference at the German Chancellor’s Office in Berlin on March 31. Image: Reuters.
Austria, a neutral country, provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as well as helmets and armor, to civilians, but does not provide weapons to the country. Austria has criticized Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and last week expelled four of its diplomats.
Russia on February 24 launched a military operation to “demilitarize and de-fascist Ukraine”. After more than a month of hostilities, Russia withdrew its troops from the area around the capital Kiev and the city of Chernihiv to focus on the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the country’s military needed to push back Russian forces in the Donbass to “increase the negotiating advantage” for Zelensky in a possible meeting with Putin.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that about 4.5 million people left Ukraine after the outbreak of hostilities, 90% of them women and children because Ukrainian authorities do not allow men. in the age of enlistment to evacuate. About 2.6 million people went to Poland and 686,000 people went to Romania.
Nguyen Tien (According to Al Jazeera)
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