Russian President Vladimir Putin donated earrings from sapphire worth 50,000 euros to former far-right Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneisl, who invited the Russian president to her wedding in 2018, according to an article in the Krone newspaper.
Two sapphires weighing almost 23 grams and white gold were included in the gifts brought with him by the Russian president to the wedding of the then leading Austrian politician, along with a samovar, a Don Cossack choir and flowers.
According to Krone, Kneisl had fought hard with her ministry for the ownership of the earrings. While the ministry claimed the earrings were state-owned, Kneisl said it was a personal gift.
Eventually, the issue was apparently settled through a perpetual loan agreement, under which Knasley’s potential heirs would return the earrings to the Austrian government after her death.
However, Kneisl continued to challenge the agreement, arguing that the contract looked like a “noose”.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the earrings are located in a treasury from February 2020.
The leak of the Foreign Ministry’s internal messages comes at a time when Austria is facing deep-rooted economic, social and political involvement of Russian oligarchs in the upper echelons of society.
euractiv.gr
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