Austrian minister defends curtsy to Putin: ‘I submit to no one’
Invite itself raised eyebrows since Russian president, who arrived with a troupe of Cossack singers, was not known to be close friend
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Your support makes all the difference.Austria's foreign minister has been forced to defend curtsying to Vladimir Putin at her wedding following fierce criticism.
Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said it was a traditional dance move which followed a bow Mr Putin made to her, as is customary, and stressed she does not "submit" to anyone.
Video footage showed Ms Kneissl waltzing with Mr Putin, before making a deep curtsy at the end.
Kneissl said that "if you've seen a ball opening, then you will have seen again and again that there is this curtsy at the end."
She added "this was portrayed in commentaries as an act of submission, of prostration. And anyone who knows me knows that I submit to no one."
Mr Putin was highly visible during the celebrations following the ceremony and posed for photos with the bride and groom, entrepreneur Wolfgang Meilinger, at the wedding in her hometown Gamlitz, Styria.
He sat to the right of Ms Kneissl at the head table during the dinner and the Austrian politician appeared to raise a toast in his honour following a brief speech.
Ms Kneissl said Mr Putin was invited as the result of a spontaneous decision that she made when he visited Vienna in June.
The invite raised eyebrows at home and abroad since the Russian president, who arrived with a troupe of Cossack singers he had brought to serenade wedding guests, is not known to be a close friend.
EU-Russia relations are at a nadir following accusations that Russia was involved in the use of a nerve against against one of its former spies and his daughter in the UK, as well as ongoing outrage over the annexation of the Crimea.
The 53-year old polyglot Middle East expert is without political affiliation and was appointed the country’s top diplomat by the far-right, anti immigrant Freedom Party, one of the governing Austrian political parties.
The party has a cooperation agreement with Putin's United Russia Party.
Freedom Party leader and vice chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, praised Ms Kneissl as a "bridge builder" as he congratulated the couple and wished them "all the luck in the world and eternal love!"
Given that Austria currently occupies the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Joerg Leichtfried from the opposition Social Democrats said the EU state was in an especially delicate spot given tensions between Russia and the West.
"All the more symbolic and harmful to court the Russian president in this manner," he said.
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