After the Putin scandals

Kneissl now set to lose citizenship

Kneissl danced with Putin at her wedding—and has recently insulted her old home country of Austria several times from Russia.(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER/APA-POOL)

A bombshell has hit former Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl: her many verbal gaffes—she recentlycompared Austrians to hyenas—could now have repercussions. The NEOS party is demanding consequences and initiating proceedings to revoke her Austrian citizenship.

"If I miss anything about Europe, it's France, not Austria. In France, people were human, in Austria they were hyenas," Austria's former foreign minister Karin Kneissl recently said on YouTube, as reported. It was not the first critical statement Kneissl had made about her old home country of Austria. Now, however, the many verbal gaffes made by the ex-minister, who now lives in Russia, could have concrete consequences.

Application for revocation in preparation
As the NEOS party explained to the "Krone" newspaper, the pink European spokesperson Dominik Oberhofer is currently drafting a comprehensive statement of facts, which is reportedly to be submitted shortly and should result in the revocation of citizenship. "As a liberal, I am deeply convinced that our freedom of expression must also tolerate the gaffes of former FPÖ politician and FPÖ Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. Nevertheless, the question arises as to why Kneissl continues to appear prominently as 'Austria's former foreign minister' when she so obviously despises and hates our country," explains NEOS club chairman Yannick Shetty. 

He assumes that her propaganda business model in particular will have legal consequences for her Austrian citizenship. "In the service of Putin, for example at the Russian Economic Institute or as a columnist on the RT channel, which is banned in Austria, Kneissl symbolically spreads only one message: Austria is the antechamber to hell, Putin's Russia is the Garden of Eden. Anyone who believes that these appearances are voluntary and out of pure charity also believes in Father Frost."

Is her behavior sufficient grounds for revocation?
In any case, the legal situation seems clear in this case: if an Austrian citizen works for a foreign state and damages Austria's reputation in the process, the authorities will revoke their citizenship. Due to her apparent activities for various Putin troll factories, experts believe that the basis for revoking her Austrian citizenship has been established.

The always boisterous Herbert Kickl is suddenly quiet when it comes to his former colleague's hate attacks on Austria. 

NEOS-Klubobmann Yannick Shetty

Bild: Zwefo

NEOS wants Russia committee
In addition, NEOS has been calling for years for a comprehensive parliamentary investigation into the BVT's activities within the framework of a parliamentary Russia committee. "The current escapades of the former FPÖ foreign minister and the ongoing criminal proceedings against the alleged Russian spy Egisto Ott and former secretary general Peterlik, who was allegedly tasked with setting up his own secret service under Kneissl, make this demand seem more relevant than ever," Shetty concluded.