President of the Austrian Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl said that Vienna supports the gradual removal of anti-Russian restrictive measures, RIA Novosti reports on January 10,. "I think we are all realists. We advocate step-by-step lifting of sanctions. We need to make concessions to each other, build trustful relations, "he said.. Earlier in the newspaper Kurier Leitl, who is also president of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce, noted that the damage to the whole of Europe from "senseless sanctions" is calculated by three-digit billions, and threats to Moscow in no way affect it. He called for seeking ways to cooperate with Russia. "Together we would be invincible in global competition. That's why the Americans are against this, "the expert said.. According to him, in the Ukraine and Crimea, "the RF, of course, violated international law, but did not the Americans do this?" In his opinion, it is necessary "to step closer to Moscow step by step," to abandon the boycott of sports events, the severance of cultural ties and economic sanctions, from which the Russian Federation only benefited. "Instead of buying imports, Russia began to invest in its own production and economy," said Leitl. In the same edition on January 8, the new Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneiss stated that the sanctions of the West, adopted in July 2014, did not have a significant impact on the Russian economy. "The weakening of the Russian oil industry, conceived primarily by the United States, has not achieved its goal," the Austrian diplomat said.. Answering the question whether the economic restrictions directed against Russia are just, she noted: "Justice is not a category of politics".

The Foreign Minister recalled that such measures had success only once in history, when, due to racial segregation, sports restrictions were imposed on South Africa. In relation to Russia, according to Kneissl, "sanctions have snapped". The EU introduced economic restrictive measures against Russia in the summer of 2014 amid the conflict in Ukraine, and later expanded them and linked them to the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. The last decision on sanctions was taken by the EU Council in December last year, extending them until July 31, 2018.