Who are they—Putin’s friends in Austria? According to bad tradition, they should be the far right and the far left, with similar rhetoric, voting the same way, and working off the Kremlin’s order.
The far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and its leader Herbert Kickl, under the guise of neutrality, do indeed side with Russia and are its propaganda tool in the country and Europe as a whole.
The Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ)) was founded in 1956, with its first leader being former Nazi officer Anton Reinthaller. Former Wehrmacht officers and NSDAP members represented the party’s main membership in the early years of its existence. The ideology of the new party largely corresponded to the concepts of the “soft” version of National Socialism. At the same time, an influential group in the FPÖ was the business community, which represented the liberal component of the FPÖ.
The party was known for organising actions against quarantine and vaccination. But its central promise was to turn Austria into a “fortress” against migration.
The current leader of the FPÖ, Herbert Kickl, promises to veto the EU’s “senseless” sanctions against Russia if he becomes chancellor. And in March 2023, together with all party members, they left the parliamentary hall during President Zelensky’s video address, leaving posters with the party’s logo and the inscriptions “A place for neutrality” and “A place for peace” on the tables.
Christian Stocker, general secretary of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), said during the press conference, “The Austrian Freedom Party has become a propaganda tool of the Kremlin in our country and also in Europe. It therefore occupies a special place in Russia’s campaign to destabilise Europe. The fact that the FPÖ distributed 280 press releases demanding an end to sanctions (EU sanctions against Russia) says everything you need to know about the relationship between Kickl and Putin. Since the beginning of this war of conquest, the FPÖ has introduced 8 draft resolutions that dealt with ending sanctions, a topic that the FPÖ has targeted,” the politician said.
The general secretary of the ÖVP, whose head is Federal Chancellor Karl Negammer, also pointed out that the Austrian Freedom Party’s closeness with the Kremlin is obvious. This is part of the Freedom Party’s policy. The journalistic investigation found that the hacked emails of a top Russian propagandist, made public by Profil magazine, constitute further evidence that there is a well-planned Russian system behind the visits of FPÖ politicians to Russia, as well as to the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.
It is also noteworthy that the FPÖ had previously “concluded a friendship agreement with Putin’s dictatorial United Russia party”—”and” “this also emphasizes the political attitude of the party and Kikl towards this topic.”
The Freedom Party tries to position itself as a defender of Austria’s neutrality, which is actually a “paradox.” “The Freedom Party is not acting neutrally, but on behalf of Russia, which is waging a war of conquest in the heart of Europe.” Many European countries, including Ukraine, perceive the Austrian Freedom Party as aligning with Russia.
How does the leader of the Freedom Party comment on his certainty that Russia will cease its aggression once all EU sanctions are lifted, rather than immediately invading the next country, and whether Kickl might possess some unknown information about this matter? Against this background, the representative of the ruling party in Austria, Stocker, emphasised that the end of EU sanctions against Russia really “means the end of Ukraine.”
He also urged the leader of the Freedom Party to present written proof that the 2016 cooperation agreement with Putin’s United Russia is no longer valid. This is due to media reports suggesting that the agreement automatically renews if not cancelled within a specific time frame, necessitating the presence of a document to terminate the cooperation. At the same time, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), a far-right political party, is in an “alliance” with the Liberal Democratic Party of the Republic of Belarus.
“We are talking about an Austrian parliamentary party—the Freedom Party—having a friendship agreement with the party of the regime that started the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II by attacking the free state of Ukraine. And so the Austrian people have the right to get clarification on this,” Christian Stocker said.
In addition, the general secretary of the Austrian People’s Party asked if there are any other secret additional agreements that the FPÖ is keeping secret other than this, the official agreement.
Stocker also called for answers to the question of who financed FPÖ politicians’ trips to Russia and the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, primarily Crimea.
As is widely known, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party is the only parliamentary party in Austria that advocates for the lifting of EU sanctions against Russia and the end of EU military support for Ukraine. They have also been known to criticize various efforts made by the federal government to support Ukraine, including demining initiatives.
Kickl is also friends with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban. In March 2023, he traveled to Budapest and wrote about unnecessary sanctions against Russia, calling for a cease-fire and negotiations. Also, he expressed admiration for Orban’s fight against migration.
So, how are Putin’s far-right friends without a scandal? The scandal involving the Austrian Freedom Party rocked Austria and the global political community, leaving a lasting legacy known as “IbizaGate.” That became the most prominent trait of this political force and party mores.
The scandal was triggered on May 17, 2019 by the publication of a secret video of a meeting in Ibiza, Spain, in July 2017, where politicians Heinz-Christian Strache, Vice Chancellor and leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), and Goodenus, deputy leader of the Freedom Party, were recorded discussing their party’s behind-the-scenes actions and intentions. In the video, both politicians appeared to be favourably disposed to suggestions from a woman posing as the niece of Russian oligarch Igor Makarov, who later denied any ties to her.
The interlocutors discussed giving the Austrian Freedom Party positive news coverage in exchange for government contracts. Five people attended the meeting, but the full video remains unreleased. Strache and Goodenus also alluded to corrupt political practices allegedly involving other wealthy Freedom Party donors in Europe and beyond.
The video demonstrated the Freedom Party’s intention to suppress press freedom in Austria, replacing it with an engaged media, with the additional goal of turning the country’s most mainstream tabloid, Kronen Zeitung, into a mouthpiece of the Freedom Party. Strache added that he would donate funds through their party channels, which would be difficult to trace.
In the footage, Strache revealed his contacts with Israelis who oppose leftist policies in Israel, as well as his invitation to China to promote business between Austria and China. Strache probably also said that the companies Glock Ges. Mb.H. and Novomatic, as well as investors Heidi Horten and René Benko, made large donations to both the Freedom Party and the ÖVP using non-profit organisations.
Strache also said that Hans Peter Haselsteiner, a major shareholder in the construction company Strabag, would no longer receive commissions from the government.
In the video, Strache says he wanted to “create a media landscape like Orban,” recalling that Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, took control of all media outlets in the country entirely through a single controlling authorised body, appointing his relatives to work there, among other things.
Strache also told the alleged investor that he had been to Russia many times and had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisers to establish “strategic cooperation.”
The press publicized the politicians involved in the scandal, forcing both Freedom Party leaders to resign. The party’s current leader, Herbert Kickl, was Interior Minister at the time of the scandal and headed the Ibiza investigation.
