The President and the Federal Chancellor discussed current matters of Russian-Austrian relations, including cooperation against the spread of COVID-19, as well as prospects for stepping up the work of various mechanisms of bilateral cooperation.
At Sebastian Kurz’s request, Vladimir Putin clarified Russia’s approaches to settling the intra-Ukrainian crisis, emphasising that the Kiev authorities need to comply with the Minsk agreements unconditionally and in full. When discussing the developments in Belarus, the Russian President underscored the unacceptability of external interference in Belarus’s domestic affairs. Participants in the conversation also touched upon the case of Alexei Navalny.
Sebastian Kurz thanked the President for the invitation to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum to be held in June and confirmed his participation, via videoconference, as one of the main guests in the main plenary meeting.
The Federal Chancellor suggested considering Vienna as the venue of a potential Russia-US meeting at the highest level if a relevant agreement to hold the meeting is reached.