Russian President Putin Captured Dancing With Austrian Minister At Her Wedding

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday flew to Austria to attend the wedding of Karin Kneissl, the country’s Foreign Minister before making his way to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about Syria, Ukraine, and energy matters. Kneissl was nominated by the pro-Russia Austrian Freedom Party, whose leaders also attended the wedding.

Kneissl married her entrepreneur partner Wolfgang Meilinger in a vineyard in southern Styria province. According to local media, Putin arrived at the wedding venue in a car carrying a bouquet of flowers and accompanied by a troupe of Cossack singers booked to serenade the newlyweds.

The highlight of the wedding was when Putin danced arm-in-arm with the 53 years old bride, who looked beautiful dressed in traditional Austrian costume. Austrian public broadcaster ORF claimed that Putin also brought a small Cossack men’s choir along for the wedding guests’ entertainment.

“It was a nice trip,” Putin said about his trip. “It was a private visit.”

Notably, there have been no reports of Kneissl sharing a particularly close friendship with Putin. But she was appointed as Austria’s Foreign Minister by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) which has a coalition agreement with Putin’s United Russia party. Heinz-Christian Strache, leader and Vice Chancellor of FPO, has expressed support for Russia and called for sanctions against Moscow to be lifted.

The wedding invitation has evoked criticism from many as it came at a time when the European Union is at odds with Russia over its annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine and other issues.

Austrian lawmaker Joerg Leichtfried from the opposition Social Democratic Party criticized Kneissl’s decision to invite Putin to her wedding. He said that the invite called into question Austria’s role as a neutral intermediary in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed rebels are battling government forces.

In fact, members of the country’s Green Party have called for the foreign minister to resign over the invitation.

Vladimir Putin attends wedding of Austrian anti-immigration politico Karin Kneissl, shows off dance moves https://t.co/xqnooOBLGq pic.twitter.com/YQJ1NdtAU4

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 19, 2018