Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed desire to repair ties with the European Union, insisting he does not want to divide the 28-nation bloc. Putin travels to Austria in a first EU trip since his re-election.
Image: Reuters/Sputnik/A. Nikolskyi
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In an interview that aired on the eve of his Tuesday visit to Austria, Putin denied any Russian scheme to weaken the European Union by lending support to Eurosceptic and populist movements.
"On the contrary, we have to expand our cooperation with the EU," the Russian president told Austrian public broadcaster ORF.
Putin said that Russia needed a strong EU because of its trade links with the bloc.
"We do not pursue the objective of dividing anything or anyone in the EU," he said.
"We are fare more interested in the EU being united and flourishing because the EU is our most important trade and economic partner," Putin added.
EU populists on Russia: Moving out of lockstep
The 2014 Ukraine crisis prompted EU states to close ranks with the US and impose sanctions on Russia. Most mainstream politicians remain wary of Moscow, leaving a political vacuum that EU populists are ready to fill.
Image: DW/S. Elkin
Strache wants to end sanctions
Austria's Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache has repeatedly called for EU sanctions against Russia to be lifted. Strache, who is also the leader of the populist FPÖ party, criticized NATO expansion to the east. "It wasn't Russia who was the aggressor in recent decades, who was trying to spread its zone of military influence towards the border of the European Union," he said in 2015.
Image: Reuters/H. Bader
Jean-Marie Le Pen, Russia, and the 'white world'
Far-right veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen got into trouble in 2015, when, in addition to saying gas chambers were a "detail" of history, he claimed that France should get along with Russia to save the "white world." These statements prompted his daughter Marine to push him ouf of the Front National party.
Image: Reuters/G. Fuentes
Marine Le Pen denies claims of Putin influence
French nationalist leader Marine Le Pen has described sanctions against Russia as "completely stupid." She also claimed Crimea "has always been Russian." Her party admits to taking loans from Russian banks, but Le Pen rejected claims of Moscow's influence as outrageous and harmful. The photo shows her meeting with Vladmir Putin in the Kremlin in 2017.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Klimentyev
AFD's Alice Weidel, Alexander Gauland, and Russia - it's complicated
Germany's anti-migrant AFD party is relatively popular among German voters with Russian background. Senior members of the party, including then-leader Frauke Petry, meet Putin's ruling party lawmakers in Moscow in 2017. The AFD also believes the EU sanctions are a "farce." However, party co-leader Alexander Gauland denies that the party supports Putin and "his authoritarian regime."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Deck
Viktor Orban and the special relationship with Putin
Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban often hosts Russia's Vladimir Putin in Budapest and the two leaders share many similarities in their ruling style. Orban has complained that politicians in Brussels must "demonize" Putin in order to be considered good Europeans. However, Hungary also joined the UK-led diplomatic offensive by expelling Russian diplomats over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.
Image: Reuters/Laszlo Balogh
Geert Wilders under fire for visiting Moscow
Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders slammed Russia after flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 and backed sanctions against the country In 2018, however, he sparked outrage from relatives of MH17 victims by decrying "russophobia" during a Moscow visit. Wilders describes himself as a "a big fan of NATO and of the Americans" but says Russia could be an ally against migration and Islamic terrorism.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/P. Dejong
Matteo Salvini and the new rulers in Rome
Italy's populist League and the Five Star Movement form a ruling coalition in Italy. Both parties oppose sanctions on Russia and NATO's "aggressive" buildup in Eastern Europe. Following the elections, the League's leader Matteo Salvini said he wanted "to work for peace, not for war. I do not want to assemble little tanks like the game of Risk.”
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Solaro
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The Russian president is traveling to a EU country for the first time since his re-election in March. The Austria trip is also his first to a Western European country since last July.
Putin was expected to hold talks with government and business leaders in Vienna on Tuesday. The trip marks 50 years since the two countries' energy giants Gazprom and OMV signed a gas supply deal.
Austria takes over the rotating EU presidency in July.
The conflict in Ukraine continues to strain ties between Moscow and the EUImage: Reuters
A bridge between east and west
Russia and the EU clash over a number of issues, including the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The EU imposed sanctions on Moscow over its support to pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
Unlike many other European countries, Austria's right-wing government did not expel Russian diplomats following Skripal's poisoning.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whom Putin meets in Vienna on Tuesday, is in the favor of lifting EU sanctions against Russia if there is progress on the Ukraine dispute.
