“She has a lot of experience — namely the European experience of treating nature, restoring what has been lost, and she understands like no one else how difficult it is and what great efforts the Russian Federation is making,” the director said.
Kneissl, who is known for dancing with Putin at her wedding, is not only keen to defend endangered species — she has been a vocal advocate for Russia, her new home, 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 drew international attention when the Russian president not only attended the event, but also danced a waltz with bride. Kneissl, then the head of Austrian diplomacy, even curtsied to Putin.
The following year, the far-right party was rocked by its leader’s Russian collusion scandal and its ministers, including Kneissl, were kicked out of the government.
But the Russians gave her a chance at a new life: she became a regular on RT, the Kremlin-backed international news channel, and in 2021 she joined the board of Rosneft, a state-owned oil company.
Last year, Kneissl moved to Russia to head a think tank in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg. She engages actively in diplomacy for Moscow having, for instance, delivered a speech this July at a United Nations meeting calling for an end to arms supplies to Ukraine.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry was bemused by its former leader’s U.N. speech: “It seems that the silly season has also arrived in Russia,” a spokesperson said at the time.
