Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) has argued for maintaining a sense of proportion towards Moscow regarding Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. “We must not cross the border, for example by introducing a visa ban for 144 million Russians,” Schallenberg said Monday. Russia will continue to be part of European history and culture.
The foreign minister stressed that there was no doubt about Ukraine’s full support in its struggle for sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The ruthless offensive war fueled by Russia is madness. At the same time, we also have to think about the day after, the week after and the months after,” Schallenberg said at a conference of the French elite university Sciences Po in Paris, according to his spokeswoman.
OSCE meeting: Schallenberg criticizes Lavrov’s dismissal
For the European security architecture in the future will have to somehow include Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and as a nuclear power. The Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) must be preserved, Schallenberg demanded, again criticizing the fact that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was not invited to the most recent OSCE meeting in Poland.
“The OSCE is one of the few remaining platforms on which Russian diplomats sit and listen to our arguments and our harsh criticism of the Russian offensive war,” the foreign minister said. According to Schallenberg, ‘maintaining a sense of proportion’ is one of the biggest challenges for 2023. Another is preserving unity. “What we do today will determine the status of the free world in years to come,” he said.
Meeting with French counterpart
Following his appearance at the conference, as part of his one-day visit to Paris, Schallenberg also met his counterpart Catherine Colonna, who has been the French foreign minister since May 2022, for the first bilateral talks.
The main topics of discussion were the future of the European Union and the aspirations of the Western Balkan countries to join the EU. At the meeting with Colonna, Schallenberg emphasized that a stable European security architecture that ignores Russia is unthinkable, it was said afterwards. The situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Sahel zone and the Russian influence in the region were also discussed.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
