Kneissl: Putin is the "most intelligent and accomplished gentleman"

Karin Kneissl knows Russia's President Putin. As Austria's foreign minister, she danced the waltz with him. Now she lives in Russia and puts Putin on a par with Jane Austin's heroes. At the same time, she talks about freedom and "dirty fantasies".

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl is enthusiastic about Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He is the most intelligent gentleman, with the emphasis on gentleman - and I have met a few," Kneissl said in an interview with the BBC, specifying: "In the sense of what Jane Austen wrote about the accomplished gentleman in 'Pride and Prejudice', he meets that standard." Among other things, Kneissl danced with Putin at her wedding in 2018 and curtsied to him afterwards.

However, Kneissl no longer wants to talk about her wedding in the interview. "It's so boring," explained the ex-politician. "I've done other things in my life before and after. And honestly: it's so boring. Honestly." It was so boring that even her dog, who was lying at her feet during the interview, fell asleep. The whole thing happened almost six years ago. In fact, Kneissl's marriage is now history, as is the Austrian government at the time, and Kneissl has traveled a lot around the world. She has been working in St. Petersburg since the summer.

When asked about repression in Russia, she said in the BBC interview: "So far, I haven't seen any repression in my immediate environment." Kneissl said that she was able to work in Russia with the "academic freedom" that she had missed. When journalist Steve Rosenberg countered that a young Russian woman in her immediate neighborhood was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing price tags in a supermarket with anti-war slogans, the Vienna native laughed and said: "What do I have to do with that?"

The 58-year-old did not criticize the Russian war against Ukraine. It had not turned the world upside down. "Tony Blair, David Cameron - they were all involved in military actions together with their governments," said Kneissl. In response to accusations that some are accusing her of treason and calling her a Russian spy, she said at the end: "I can't understand that. Not an inch. It's just dirty fantasy."