Austrian chancellor meets Putin; urges to end Ukraine war & discuss Russian war crimes

On Monday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease the invasion of Ukraine and highlighted the topic of significant Russian military war crimes. Interestingly, Nehammer is the first European leader to see Putin in Moscow since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 this year.

The Austrian chancellor said in a statement released after the meeting that his main message to President Putin in the very frank, open, and stern conversations was that the war must end since, in war, both sides can only lose, as per news agency AP.

Those responsible for war crimes in Bucha would be held accountable: Karl Nehammer

The Australian chancellor told President Putin that all those responsible for war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and elsewhere, according to Nehammer, would be held accountable. According to his statement, he also emphasised the importance of opening humanitarian corridors so that residents trapped in cities under bombardment can get basic commodities like food and water.

The Austrian leader described his visit to Moscow as a duty to exhaust all options for stopping the unrest in Ukraine, barely two days after meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

European Union-member Austria supported the 27-nation bloc's sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). However, Nehammer and other Austrian officials have been keen to stress that military neutrality does not mean moral neutrality, as per AP. 

EU is as united on matters of sanctions, says Nehammer

According to Nehammer, he informed Putin that the EU is as united on the subject of sanctions as it has ever been and that they will remain in place - and maybe be strengthened - as long as Ukrainians continue to die. Nehammer chose to visit Moscow after meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv and speaking with the Presidents of Turkey, Germany, and the European Union, according to Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. It was an effort to "seize every chance to halt the humanitarian horror" in Ukraine, Schallenberg said ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

He went on to say that any voice that clarifies to President Putin what reality looks like outside the Kremlin gates, is not a wasted voice, according to AP. 

Image: AP