Former Austrian Foreign Minister who danced with Putin joins Rosneft's board of directors
Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl will join the board of directors of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.
56-year-old Kneissl, who served as Austria’s Foreign Minister from 2017 till 2019, was nominated to the board as an independent director along with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has held a position in the company for more than three years, TASS reported citing the Russian government’s decree.
Kneissl, a law doctor and middle East specialist, who spent her childhood years in Jordan, where her father worked as a personal pilot for King Hussein, is not a member of any Austrian party.
In 2018, she invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to her wedding, and he unexpectedly accepted the invitation.
On August 18, 2018, Vladimir Putin attended the wedding ceremony of Karin Knessl and financier Wolfgang Meilinger in the Austrian state of Styria. The President of the Russian Federation presented newlyweds with a painting, an antique oil presser, a Tula samovar and brought with him a Kuban Cossack choir for entertainment. In addition, the Russian leader, along with other guests, left an autograph for the newlyweds on a white Volkswagen Beetle convertible.
In Europe, Kneissl was criticized for her contacts with Putin, because they were seen as contradicting a unified policy of pressure on the Kremlin.