Austria: Federal President Van der Bellen makes Russia angry

Embassy responds

“Dwarf”: Austria’s Federal President angers the Kremlin

Alexander Van der Bellen attacked Russia with a rhetorical twist. The Russian embassy in Vienna reacts outraged.

The Russian embassy in Vienna reacted with sharp criticism to a statement by Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen. The reason is a statement that Van der Bellen is said to have made at an event in Vienna, according to a report in the Austrian “Kronen Zeitung”. In it he described Russia as a “dwarf” who behaves “like a giant”.

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Van der Bellen’s statement apparently came as part of the “Hofburg in Dialogue” event on September 14th in Vienna. That’s where he stepped Federal President together with the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde. The focus was on European economic and financial issues, in particular the expansion of the Capital Markets Union.

At the event, Van der Bellen called for a stronger common European capital market. “We need a real European capital market, a real capital markets union,” he said, according to the report. At the same time, he warned against downplaying Europe’s own importance. Europe should not make itself smaller than it is, said Van der Bellen and in this context spoke of “less dwarfing of itself”.

In a video also published on X, Van der Bellen can then be heard giving an English explanation. “‘Self-dwarfism’, to put it into English: Imagining Europeans as dwarfs on the world scale,” he said. Europe is not a dwarf. Then he added: “There’s a dwarf that behaves like a giant, that’s true, and that’s Russia.”

The Russian embassy did not stop at criticizing the wording. In her contribution, she referred to a well-known fable by the Russian poet Ivan Krylow and wrote that one would like to remind the Austrian Federal President of it. The message quoted: “The pug! Sure, he’s a strong man. He also barks at elephants.”

The Russian contribution also contained a personal tip against Van der Bellen. The embassy’s posting said that he was trying “not for the first time” and “ineptly” to comment on foreign policy issues.