Austria ready to support “painful” sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine, – MFA head Schallenberg

Foreign Ministers: Jan Lipavský (the Czech Republic), Ivan Korčok (Slovakia), Dmytro Kuleba (Ukraine), Alexander Schallenberg (Austria)

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg assures that new sanctions against the Russian Federation in the event of its further aggression against Ukraine will be painful for all countries, but Austria is ready to support them. Schallenberg stated this at a joint press conference with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, the Czech Republic – Jan Lipavský, and Slovakia – Ivan Korčok, held on February 7 in Kyiv.

Schallenberg said that yesterday, February 7, he and his colleagues from the Czech Republic and Slovakia visited the contact line in Donbas and saw the difficulties of life in eastern Ukraine.

As reported yesterday, February 7-8, Foreign Ministers Jan Lipavský (the Czech Republic), Alexander Schallenberg (Austria), and Ivan Korčok (Slovakia) will pay a joint visit to Ukraine.

Germany and US are “absolutely united” on Russia sanctions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Washington after his meeting with US President Joe Biden on February 7.

Read also: Berlin’s refusal to supply weapons to Kyiv is Berlin’s old Ostpolitik policy, – Umland

US president Biden has also underlined the “total” unity among western powers after crisis talks with European leaders on how to deter Russia from the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, and London warned of “unprecedented sanctions” against Moscow in case of further escalation.