MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Karin Kneissl, former Austria’s foreign minister and head of the St. Petersburg State University's G.O.R.K.I. Center, has opened up to TASS about why she had to leave her home country.
"Back in 2020, I was barred from working in Austria. On the street I was called a ‘Russian swine’ and attacked. I received a lot of threats. There were public calls for murdering me both in Austria and in Ukraine. That is why in 2020, exactly five years ago, I had to leave Austria, with two suitcases and two dogs. In 2022, my lease agreement in France was terminated under pressure from the French authorities and I was asked to leave the country. So, I left the EU territory in the spring of 2022," she said.
Commenting on Ukraine’s sanctions against her, she said that she was not surprised to see her name on "yet another sanctions list." She recalled that in June she "was more amused than frightened" to learn that she had been put on Canada’s sanctions list along with famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and rectors at a number of Russian universities.
"I don’t know why I was put on Canada’s sanctions list. I have never been in Canada, have never said anything about Canada in my entire life. It was a strange surprise. Now, you have told me that I am probably on some new Ukrainian list. I can’t say that I’m surprised by that," she said.
The former top Austrian diplomat recalled that several months ago two German nationals had been blacklisted by the European Union although "both have been living in Russia for quite a long time and have nothing to do with Germany."
"Back in 2022, I was probably the first EU citizen who had to leave the European Union. I was on the European Parliament’s sanctions list, which, as a matter of fact, has no legal binding. But I was about to be blacklisted by the European Council. So, I appealed to Austria’s former President Heinz Fischer due to one simple reason: the then German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, stood up for [former chancellor] Gerhard Schroder, who was also on the sanctions list, saying that his being on that list was absolutely unacceptable. As for me, no one in Austria interceded for me. Neither back then nor later on," Kneissl recalled.
"Since then, I have not entered Austria, nor have I visited any other EU country. And I am not going to. Two months ago, my dear friend died. The last time I saw her was five years ago and I understand that I will never see any of the people I used to know five or more years ago. This is my reality because I don’t cross the EU’s borders, especially Austria’s, due to security considerations," she added.