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Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday grew to become the primary European chief to go to Moscow and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the reason that invasion of Ukraine started on February 24.
Nehammer known as the talks “direct, open and hard” after assembly with Putin in his residence within the Novo-Ogaryovo neighborhood of Moscow.
The Austrian chancellor emphasised that the journey had not been a “pleasant go to,” including that he had introduced up the difficulty of warfare crimes in Bucha and different locations and harassed that “all those that are accountable shall be held to account,” Austrian media reported him as saying.
Nehammer mentioned he had come away from the talks with “no optimistic impression.”
He mentioned the Russian navy was getting ready a recent offensive in jap Ukraine. “This battle shall be fought with vehemence,” he mentioned, urging civilians within the contested areas to flee the preventing.
The Austrian premier additionally mentioned had informed Putin sanctions would stay in place — and would even improve — so long as Ukrainians are being killed.
Go to to inform the ‘fact’
The intention of the assembly was to inform the Russian president “the reality” in regards to the warfare, Austrian International Minister Alexander Schallenberg mentioned forward of the talks.
“It makes a distinction to be head to head and inform him what the fact is: that this president has de facto misplaced the warfare morally,” Schallenberg mentioned upon his arrival for talks with EU counterparts in Luxembourg earlier on Monday.
“It must be in his personal curiosity that somebody tells him the reality. I believe it can be crucial and we owe it to ourselves if we need to save human lives.”
‘Humanitarian hell in Ukraine’
Austria’s international minister mentioned Nehammer was taking “very clear messages of a humanitarian and political form” to the assembly together with his reverse quantity within the Russian capital. The go to is aimed toward mitigating “the humanitarian hell” notably by pleading for “humanitarian corridors,” Schallenberg mentioned.
Whereas “this isn’t an EU-mandated journey,” Nehammer knowledgeable key EU leaders of his plan upfront, Schallenberg mentioned.
He added that Nehammer determined to make the journey after assembly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday.
Nehammer was certainly one of plenty of leaders to go to Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday
Schallenberg mentioned: “We do not need to depart any alternative unused and should seize each likelihood to finish the humanitarian hell in Ukraine.”
“Each voice that makes clear to President Putin what actuality seems to be like outdoors the partitions of Kremlin just isn’t a wasted voice.”
Schallenberg mentioned that Nehammer and Putin will meet one-on-one with out media alternatives.
Scholz backs ‘diplomatic effort’
The go to has been welcomed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Berlin helps any “diplomatic efforts” to finish the warfare in Ukraine, Christiane Hoffmann, a authorities spokesperson, mentioned on Monday.
Putin and Nehammer plan to give attention to the battle once they meet however they might additionally focus on points referring to gasoline provide, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned Monday, in response to the Interfax information company.
ab, jsi/fb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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