Austrian Foreign Minister spoke about informal channels of communication with Russia

The West must continue dialogue with RUSSIA, Austrian Foreign Minister and former Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.

According to him, Austria maintains informal channels of communication with the Russian government. Schallenberg explained that Western countries need to continue dialogue with Russia, including in international organizations such as the OSCE and the UN, in order to clearly state their position in direct contacts.

“Russia has not disappeared from the map. Russia is the largest geographical neighbor of the EU and the largest nuclear power on this planet. Moscow sits at the negotiating table in many international organizations and, for example, is an important player in the implementation of global climate and environmental goals,” the Austrian minister explained.

Schallenberg believes that in this decade, relations with Russia will not be the same as they were before the start of the military operation on the territory of Ukraine. “We will have to come to terms with the fact that our relations with Russia will remain problematic due to the lack of the most important asset - trust,” he said. According to the minister, "Russia will remain a threat for many years to come."

Austria is not a member of military alliances, there are no foreign military bases in the country, in particular NATO states. Vienna did not supply weapons to Ukraine , as many other EU countries did, but supported sanctions against Russia.

In September last year, Schallenberg said that the lifting of restrictions on Moscow was "still a long way off." In his opinion, the sanctions against Russia "are becoming more effective every day." At the same time, in March of this year, the Austrian minister said that he did not see the point in new packages of restrictions, since these were “very crude weapons.” “We already had several large sanctions packages. Give them time to earn,” he explained his position.