The Austrian press revealed on Thursday the existence of precious jewels offered by Vladimir Putin to a former minister appointed by the far right in 2017, goods which have now returned to the bosom of Austria.
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These white gold earrings adorned with sapphires, estimated at 50,000 euros, were given to Karin Kneissl in gratitude for the invitation to her wedding in August 2018, according to the daily Crown newspaper.
AFP
Appointed by the far-right FPÖ party as head of Austrian diplomacy, where she remained between December 2017 and May 2019, she had invited Mr. Putin to his wedding while his country held the rotating presidency of the European Union ( EU).
The media close to the Kremlin were happy to publish images, having gone around the world, of the bride waltzing with the Russian president, whom she bestowed with a deep bow.
The jewels in question are now in the reserves of the government, which recovered them in February 2020, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry told AFP.
Initially, “a loan agreement had been concluded with Karin Kneissl in November 2019” but the ex-minister then “announced that she might not fulfill the conditions of the contract” and returned the jewels.
AFP
After leaving the government, Karin Kneissl was appointed in June 2021 to the board of directors of the Russian oil giant Rosneft, joining the former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Both refuse to leave office despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unlike other former European leaders like Frenchman François Fillon or Italian Matteo Renzi who resigned from Russian companies.
The former Austrian official, explicitly cited in a European Parliament report as an example of Kremlin interference in the EU, has meanwhile moved to France in September 2020.
In a response to AFP, she confirmed that these gifts had been “the property of the Republic since August 2018, as required by law”.