Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs claims Putin's visit to her wedding was ‘unexpected’
During a broadcast of Ö1 radio, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Karin Kneissl said that she does not have any close relationship with Putin and the invitation of the Russian President to her wedding was “a completely spontaneous" move.
Putin had come to the wedding on August 18, causing a wave of criticism in the country.
In early June, the Minister invited government colleagues and the President of Austria to the wedding because “that is the way things are done." At the reception on June 5, when the Russian President was visiting Vienna, Kneissl decided to invite Putin to introduce him to her fiancé.
On June 19, she found out that Putin agreed to be present at the wedding although she “did not hope for” it at all.
Kneissl also rejected criticism regarding her little bow to Putin during the dance. According to Kneissl, "if you saw once an opening of the ball, you could notice that people make a curtsey at the end." "The Russian President bowed, and I responded to this bow with a curtsey,” she explained. The Minister expressed surprise that some commentators saw in it some "act of submission as she fell on the knees."
Kneissl does not believe that Putin’s presence at her wedding somehow damaged Austria’s external affairs. The representative of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Russian President’s presence was a working visit and noted that the whole affair was “a personal visit to a private celebration that should not lead to any conclusions regarding the change of Austria’s foreign policy position."