Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in an interview with the ORB broadcaster that he did not believe Vienna's relations with Moscow were better than its ties with Washington, suggesting that Russia was more interested in Austria than the United States
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in an interview with the ORB broadcaster that he did not believe Vienna's relations with Moscow were better than its ties with Washington, suggesting that Russia was more interested in Austria than the United States.
"I would not say that our relations with Russia are better than those with other countries of this world. I would rather say that Russia is traditionally very interested in Austria. And thus it is driven closer to the Federal government, federal chancellor, federal president than, perhaps, the United States is. But I am more comfortable with my position in the middle having good contacts in Europe with the East and the West and having good contacts with superpowers," Kurz said.
The chancellor explained that Austria was focused on exports, that is why Vienna needed good contacts across the world given its economic interests.
On Wednesday, Kurz met with US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Moscow's relations with western countries have been deteriorated since 2014 when the Ukrainian crisis erupted and Crimea rejoined Russia as a result of a referendum in defiance of the West. Despite that, Moscow and Vienna have been cooperating on a number of projects. Particularly, Austria has been supporting the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project, which have been criticized by a number of other EU member states.
