Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Monday he opposes new sanctions against Russia despite soaring tensions between the West and Moscow over a slew of accusations.
The European Union and NATO earlier this month expressed solidarity with the United States, which hit Russia with the toughest sanctions in three years for election interference and cyberattacks. In March, the Biden administration also expanded export restrictions to Russia over the poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
“I’m against additional sanctions as an end in itself,” said Kurz in an interview with the Swiss-German daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. “De-escalation is required. It is difficult, but the constant aggravation is not the way we want to go.”
“The sanctions already imposed by the EU were correct. But it is also important to rely on dialogue. Peace on our continent can only be achieved with Russia,” he said.
The EU levied sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Russian-EU ties have suffered further this month as the Czech Republic accused Russian secret services of involvement in a deadly 2014 arms depot blast and expelled 18 diplomats from Prague. Several Eastern and Central European nations have since moved to expel Russian diplomats they accused of espionage in moves that drew quick retaliation from Moscow.
The U.S., accusing Russia of orchestrating the massive SolarWinds cyber operation and interfering in the 2020 presidential election, expelled 10 Russian diplomats, sanctioned 40 entities and individuals and banned U.S. banks from buying new Russian state debt.
Russia retaliated by expelling 10 American diplomats, blacklisting top current and former officials, as well as capping the number of Russian nationals allowed to work at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and pressing Washington to recall its ambassador.
Tensions also soared over Russian troop movements on the Ukrainian border and in Crimea, which Moscow abruptly ordered to be pulled by May 1.
Austria’s Kurz has advocated for improving EU ties with Russia since taking power in late 2017.
(c) The Moscow Times
“De-escalation is required. It is difficult, but the constant aggravation is not the way we want to go.”
Well asshole, perhaps you can have a word with your fuck buddy. The only country destabilizing anything is Russia. Do you not read the news about spies, chemical weapons, intimidation on Ukraine’s border, murder in Europe carried out by Russian goons? You are a fucking disgrace,but just what I expect from a Kraut.
“Peace on our continent can only be achieved with Russia,”
In non-diplomatic speech, that means, We will appease Hitler 2.0 until he finally stops taking territory.
He should have said, peace in Europe will be achieved despite of Russia.
Exactly. There would be peace in Europe if not for the demented dwarf. Countless military leaders have said you can’t defeat the evil until you name the evil.
I wish that mafia land would leave Ukraine alone and march into Germanystan and Austria instead. I would celebrate with a bottle of 20 year old scotch and a big, fat joint.
If this tosser and his fellow appeasers in the EU booted out all Russians, plus their propaganda, they would be amazed how quickly the situation would stabilize.
They are too stupid to do something so sensible and too cowardly.