Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said Russia will always be an important country for Europe. About this he declared in an interview with Reuters.
Schallenberg described as an illusion the idea that “Russia will no longer exist” and that Europe can sever its ties with her in all areas.
“Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky will remain an integral part of European culture, whether we like it or not. (Russia) will remain our biggest neighbour, will remain the second biggest nuclear power in the world,” the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry said.
Furthermore, Schallenberg indicated that he was in favor of the application of already existing European sanctions against Russia, but not of the introduction of new ones. “It is a very blunt weapon. We have adopted large-scale sets of sanctions. Give them time to take effect,” the minister concluded.
The diplomat also cited data, according to which the vast majority of Western companies did not cease their activities in Russia after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. ” Let’s be realistic. 91% of Western businesses are still in Russia,” Shallenberg said. According to him, companies that have remained in the country have adopted a reasonable wait-and-see attitude.
At the same time, Schallenberg defended the Austrian conglomerate Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which continues to operate in Russia (according to data Financial Times, the Russian “daughter” of RBI – Raiffeisenbank – serves about 50% of payments with other countries).
In February, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) began examining the RBI in connection with its activities in Russia. OFAC asked the Austrian conglomerate to clarify which payments and related processes the bank supports “in light of recent developments related to Russia and Ukraine.” In March, the Austrian edition of Der Standard reported that RBI is studying the possibility of exchanging Raiffeisenbank for the assets of Sberbank Europe.
In September 2022, Schallenberg called the sanctions “soft”. At the same time, the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry lamented that the sanctions restrictions “are becoming more effective every day”, while “whole sectors of the Russian economy are inactive”.
In December, Schallenberg said he saw no prospect of starting peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
