Austria’s Former Foreign Minister Earns Millions from Russian State Media RT

In a striking development that reveals deep ties between international figures and Russian state media, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has established a lucrative arrangement with Russian propaganda outlets while building connections with Kremlin-aligned institutions.

Financial records indicate that Kneissl, who gained international attention when Vladimir Putin attended her 2018 wedding, has been receiving substantial payments from RT (formerly Russia Today) since 2020. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan publicly celebrated Kneissl’s addition to their roster of columnists that year, setting the stage for what would become a financially rewarding relationship.

The compensation for Kneissl’s anti-Western commentary has been considerable. After comparing German Defense Minister rhetoric to that of Joseph Goebbels last July, she received 1,174,374 rubles (approximately $14,855) the following day. Her May 2023 article claiming sanctions had failed to defeat Russia earned her 611,000 rubles ($7,729). March proved especially profitable when her media appearances mocking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and declaring a Russian victory in what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” resulted in payments of 1.3 million rubles ($16,444).

Beyond RT, Kneissl contributes to Vedomosti, a once-independent newspaper now owned by Oleg Leonov, a former executive at REN TV, which belongs to Putin ally Yuri Kovalchuk. She also receives payments from Teleprofil LLC, a production company creating propaganda content for Channel One, Russia’s premier state television network.

Kneissl’s Russian connections predate her political ascent. Travel records show she first visited Russia no later than 2014, making additional trips in 2016 and early 2017 – well before her appointment as Austria’s Foreign Minister. That appointment came with backing from Heinz-Christian Strache, the far-right Freedom Party leader who later resigned amid corruption allegations involving suspected Russian collusion.

Her current travel arrangements reveal further institutional connections. Airline bookings are now handled by Tatyana Kuznetsova, an employee at 31 GPISS JSC, a company that designs specialized facilities for Russia’s Defense Ministry. Kuznetsova uses email credentials from the “Foundation for Development and Support of Bodies and Organizations of the Justice System,” an organization established in 2022 whose founding director had ties to Putin’s Presidential Administration.

Kneissl has expanded her Russian affiliations to include academic positions at Ryazan State and Siberian Federal universities, where she lectures on geopolitics and the oil industry. Notably, the rector of Ryazan State, Dmitry Bokov, belongs to the United Russia party, while Siberian Federal’s rector Maksim Rumyantsev signed a letter supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

She also serves as an “ambassador for the preservation of the Amur tiger” and external adviser to the Amur Tiger Center, an organization created at Putin’s initiative and previously headed by former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The center’s supervisory board includes current Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko.

The relationship between Kneissl and Putin appears to have been cultivated over years. At her 2018 wedding, where images of the two dancing made international headlines, Putin’s gifts reportedly included a samovar, an antique oil press, a performance by a Cossack choir, and sapphire earrings valued at €50,000.

These revelations coincide with reports about Vladimir Litvinenko, co-owner of leading fertilizer producer PhosAgro, who supervised Putin’s allegedly falsified academic dissertation and later headed his election campaign headquarters in St. Petersburg, demonstrating the pattern of rewarding loyalty within Putin’s circle of influence.

The extensive financial and institutional support for Kneissl illustrates Russia’s ongoing strategy to cultivate relationships with former Western officials willing to advance Kremlin narratives through its state-controlled media apparatus.