Karin Kneissl

Karin Kneissl, who was the head of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2017-2019, left the country due to threats. This was reported by the Washington Post, which its journalists said had contacted Kneisl via WhatsApp. Kneissl declined to be interviewed, but said she left Austria “not of her own accord”. Exactly where she went is unknown.

After the article was published, Kneisl tweeted that he was leaving Austria in 2020 (blocked in Russia).

Kneissl also declined to comment to reporters on the case of Egisto Ott, who led undercover agents in the Austrian internal security service and is suspected of selling state secrets to Russia and providing information on the Kremlin’s supposed enemies in the West. Kneissl said he “knew nothing about it.”

In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended Kneisl’s wedding and danced with the bride. The diplomat later told reporters that he had “spontaneously” invited Putin, who was in Austria at the time, to the wedding.

For his involvement in Putin’s private celebration, Kneisl was criticized by some Austrian politicians, who called for him to resign. In 2021, Kneisl joined Rosneft’s board of directors as an independent director, his candidacy was proposed by the Russian government. In May of this year, he left Rosneft in connection with the military special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.