“She has a lot of experience, namely the European experience in treating nature and restoring what has been lost, and she knows better than anyone how difficult it is and how much effort the Russian Federation is making,” the director said.
Famous for dancing at Putin’s wedding, Kneissl is not only passionate about protecting endangered species, but has also been an active advocate for her new home in Russia on the international stage.
The diplomat headed the Foreign Ministry in Vienna from 2017 to 2019 as an appointee of the far-right Freedom Party. Her wedding in the summer of 2018 attracted international attention when the Russian president not only attended the ceremony but also waltzed with the bride. Kneissl, then Austrian Foreign Minister, bowed to Putin.
The following year, the far-right party was rocked by a scandal involving its leader’s Russian connections, and party ministers, including Kneissl, were forced out of the government.
But Russia gave her a new lease on life. She became a regular on the Kremlin-backed international news channel RT, and in 2021 she joined the board of directors of the state-owned oil company Rosneft.
Last year, Kneissl moved to Russia to head a think tank in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. She has been active in diplomacy for Moscow, including speaking at a UN conference in July this year to call for a halt to arms supplies to Ukraine.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry was puzzled by the former leader’s UN speech, with a spokesman saying at the time: “It seems that the season of foolishness has come for Russia too.”
