(Vienna) Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, visiting Austria on Wednesday, called on Wednesday to “cut the oxygen” of the Russian “war machine” by sanctioning the oligarchs in particular.
Posted at 9:50 a.m.
“War must not have oxygen. And what is the oxygen for Putin’s war machine? Above all the money coming from the oligarchs, oil, gas. […] This is why the sanctions must be real”, declared the head of the Polish government, in a press conference with Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Mr. Morawiecki said he discussed with the latter “how to draw up a roadmap” to reduce “this dependence on Russia”.
“We have to leave our comfort zone,” he insisted. “Here in Vienna, we also have oligarchs who are friends of Putin who use their fortune to support” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gas imports into Austria come mainly from Russia.
Moreover, it is a neutral country whose banking secrecy, now lifted, has long attracted large fortunes from countries of the former USSR.
Several Russian businessmen still have economic interests there, in particular because of its prosperity and its geographical proximity.
Austrian construction company Strabag is partially owned by Oleg Deripaska, founder of aluminum giant Rusal and one of Russia’s wealthiest, according to a June 2021 document posted on the company’s website.
The 27 countries of the European Union decided on Wednesday to expand their sanctions against Moscow and Minsk following the invasion of Ukraine, adding 160 Russian oligarchs and parliamentarians to their blacklist which now includes 862 people.