On Tuesday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced on Puls 24 TV that in a phone call to the newly elected US President Donald Trump, he proposed Austria as a potential place for peace negotiations in connection with the war in Ukraine. He also invited Trump to visit the country. TASR informs according to the agencies DPA and APA.
According to Nehammer, Trump is interested in ending the war. The Austrian chancellor believes that after he takes office on January 20, this topic will gain new momentum. Trump criticized military aid to Ukraine by current US President Joe Biden. In the election campaign, he repeatedly declared that he would resolve the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.
The phone call between the two leaders took place on Monday. According to Nehammer, during the conversation, Trump was mainly interested in the impressions of the Austrian Chancellor’s personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nehammer met Putin less than two months after the start of the war in Ukraine. His goal was to discuss possible diplomatic solutions to the conflict.
Austria is not a member of NATO. So far, however, it has supported all the sanctions that the EU has imposed on Russia. Nehammer is one of the most prominent European politicians who urge the early start of negotiations with Moscow. The Austrian chancellor described the phone call as “very friendly and promising”. In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, he also discussed energy security, economic and security cooperation with Trump.
