Former Austrian Foreign Minister, Karin Kneissl, acclaimed for her memorable dance with Russian President Vladimir Putin at her wedding in 2018, has embarked on a noteworthy venture. She has relocated to St Petersburg, Russia, to helm a distinguished think tank known as the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues (GORKI). This research center, established in the current year at St Petersburg State University, is entrusted with the pivotal task of advancing Russia’s foreign policy.
Ms. Kneissl’s departure from the government in the subsequent year had drawn substantial attention. She subsequently embarked on an intriguing journey, initially residing in France starting September 2020, where she assumed the role of a guest columnist for Russia Today, widely perceived as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. Ms. Kneissl, citing pressures, shifted temporarily to a quaint village in Lebanon.
Notably, she expressed the necessity of utilizing a military transport plane to transfer her two beloved ponies and personal belongings from Syria to Russia due to the sanctions against Syria and the precarious security conditions therein. Regrettably, traditional means of transport such as flights or DHL were unavailable due to these constraints.
Recent developments have seen her ponies flown to Saint Petersburg from the Russian air base at Hmeimim in Syria via a military aircraft. This distinctive move garnered unexpected political attention, a fact that Ms. Kneissl herself finds rather astonishing.
In June, Ms. Kneissl introduced the GORKI Centre, an intellectual haven affiliated with Saint Petersburg University, where she now presides. This think tank’s primary mission is to contribute significantly to shaping policies for the Russian Federation, with a concentrated focus on the Near and Middle East.
“I co-founded the Gorki centre and manage it,” as quoted by Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency, elucidates Ms. Kneissl. She emphasizes the depth of commitment required for her responsibilities at the think tank, necessitating her relocation to St Petersburg.
These recent developments underscore the intriguing journey of a prominent figure who has transitioned from the dance floor with a world leader to the cerebral realm of geopolitical research and policy shaping.
