VIENNA, April 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to "resolve" the Donbass problem despite the sanctions, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Monday after talks with the Russian leader in Moscow.

"He [Putin] clearly confirmed that the sanctions are tough for Russia but the situation in Donbass, as he said, must be, so to say, resolved despite the sanctions, even if they are quite tangible," he said at a briefing for Austrian journalists.

It was the first contact between the two leaders after Nehammer took office late in 2021. Apart from that, Nehammer’s visit was the first visit by an EU leader to Russia since the launch of the special military operation in Ukraine. Before coming to Moscow, the Austrian chancellor held talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev.