Austrian Leader To Meet Putin In Moscow

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer says he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, adding he hoped to help build bridges between Russia and Ukraine and stop what he calls the “war of aggression

Nehammer’s meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and a European Union leader since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, triggering a broad Western effort to isolate Moscow.

The Russian leader has been largely shunned by Western leaders since the start of the conflict, though he met Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Kremlin in early March.

Nehammer’s planned trip to Moscow comes after he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday.

Nehammer told journalists that, with the Moscow visit, he aimed to act as a “bridge builder” between Russia and Ukraine, hoping to “do everything possible to make (the war) stop” and to “ensure that steps are taken in the direction of peace.

Neutral Austria has been providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine as well as helmets and body armor for civilians rather than weapons. Nehammer, a conservative, has been clearly moved by telephone conversations with Zelenskiy and says he wants to show support.

There was criticism for his planned visit in some German-language media, and from at least one Ukrainian official.

Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, told Germany’s Bild such a visit was unacceptable at the present time.

Russia has rejected allegations by Ukraine and Western countries of war crimes.