VIENNA, February 13. /TASS/. Russia is ready to start a dialogue with any clear-headed political forces in Austria as the country is ripe for change ahead of the parliamentary elections in September, Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky said.

"The year 2024 will be critical for Austria, including in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Public outcry for change is prevalent. We have always respected and will respect their sovereign choice and are open to dialogue with all rational political forces. We attach the greatest significance to pragmatism and readiness to build relations on the basis of mutual respect and due account of each other’s interests. In the long run, we will judge by concrete deeds," the ambassador was quoted as saying on the embassy’s Telegram channel.

The Russian diplomat noted that the official dialogue with Vienna is currently in a state of "deep freeze." "All formats and mechanisms of bilateral cooperation are frozen. Isolated contacts are purely formal. There is no meaningful agenda in our relations with Austria. The openly destructive course of the local authorities restricts the prospects for their normalization," he said.

"Having sided with the European Union, official Vienna knowingly and unconditionally took an unfriendly position. The basis for partnership in the economy, energy, culture, science, civil society ties, which took decades to build, is being steadily destroyed by Vienna, which has opted to unconditionally side with the confrontational policy of the collective West, the hybrid war unleashed against our country, which is geared toward its isolation and doing maximum possible harm to it," Lyubinsky added.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Tuesday that the next elections to the National Council, or lower parliament house, will be held on September 29. According to an opinion poll conducted on February 7, the Freedom Party, which is against the sanctions confrontation with Russia, resonates the most with Austrians, as 27.7% of them are ready to vote in its favor. The ruling People’s Party and the Greens have a combined 30.2% support.

Austria supports the EU sanctions against Russia. Its government has repeatedly said that it wants to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. Nevertheless, Austria is sticking to its neutral stance and is not supplying weapons to Ukraine.