A stay by the Linz entrepreneur Otto Hirsch in a Russian-occupied part of eastern Ukraine led to discussions in Austria: after the Russian embassy in Austria pointed out the visit on social media, the Ukrainian ambassador to Austria, Wassyl Chymynez, accused the Linz resident of being “completely at the service of aggression”. Hirsch himself spoke of an exclusively humanitarian background to his journey.
“Otto Hirsch was in the Luhansk People’s Republic on May 16 and 17 and provided material assistance to the residents of an apartment building in Alchevsk, where a drone of the Ukrainian Armed Forces crashed in March,” the Russian Embassy in Vienna said in a social statement. on Sunday evening Networks explained.
Praise from Russia
At the same time, the “humanitarian activities” of the Austrian citizen were praised, who, according to the embassy, has a warm relationship with Russia and, together with his wife Vera, has made a major contribution to the restoration of Donbass infrastructure since 2015.
At the same time, numerous state and state-affiliated media in Russia had reported on the entrepreneur’s stay – the well-known television channel RT had sent a British war correspondent to the Russian-controlled town of Sorynsk to interview Hirsch.
Schools in focus
There was talk of the Austrian, who was honored by the head of Russia’s local government for his efforts to participate in the restoration of a school affected by war in 2015. On the signs shown, the school thanks the Russian Federation and the local government, but also the couple Otto and Vera Hirsch, Rotary International and Diakonie Austria and the Russian Embassy in Vienna.
Ukrainian ambassador angry
Hirsch is fully at the service of Russian aggression, resulting in murders, rapes, torture, the occupation of many territories and others, Ukrainian Ambassador Chymynets said in the reports. Visits to the territories temporarily occupied by Russia without the consent of the Ukrainian state are illegal and a gross violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, the diplomat wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
Entrepreneur defends himself
“If children are in need, I go on a march. “Regardless of any political stories,” Otto Hirsch, who works in the construction sector, responded to the Ukrainian allegations. He has been doing this for 35 years and has been involved in humanitarian activities in Romania, during the war in the former Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan. In 2015, Hirsch said, he was asked if he could help children in the Alchevsk region. The entrepreneur explained that he was not aware that his repeated visits to the region without Kyiv’s permission violated Ukrainian law. According to his own statements, he traveled to the region on a Russian visa.
“Political stories”
At the same time, the Upper Austrian contradicted the statement of the Izvestia newspaper, which was approved by the EU on Friday, in which he was convinced of the correctness of the course of Russian foreign policy and the historical connection of Crimea and Donbass with Russia. “I never said that in a statement,” he said, explaining that he was neither on the Russian nor Ukrainian side in this “political story.” His only wish, and the wish of many of his interlocutors, was that the war would finally end.
Source: Krone
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