Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer @karlnehammer just finished a video press conference from the Austrian Embassy in Moscow. He told journalists: "It was important for me to look into his (Putin's) eyes and tell him about the horrors of war and the war crimes in Bucha." 1/
Nehammer also said that he considered it important to create humanitarian corridors so that civilians in the East can flee prior to what he thinks will be a "fierce battle" that we should not "underestimate". 2/
Nehammer said that he had the impression that Putin had some form of confidence in the Istanbul negotiation process. This process should therefore be further supported. 3/
Nehammer also said that the one-on-one with Putin was held with the help of a translator. He said that the table was long, even if not as long as the one from the Kremlin. 4/ #Austria#Nehammer
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SCOOP: @OSCE expert mission report finds "clear patterns of international humanitarian law violations by the Russian forces in their conduct of hostilities" in #Ukraine. The report also finds "credible evidence" that "the most fundamental human rights" have been violated. 1/
The 110-page report (above is the executive summary) has been drafted by experts following the invocation of the so-called OSCE Moscow Mechanism by Ukraine & 45 OSCE states on 3 March. The experts were not able to visit #Ukraine but relied on multiple source for its report. 2/
The report investigates events 24 Feb-1 April, meaning it does not cover the atrocities committed in villages in the proximity of Kyiv, incl. Bucha. Russia was invited to cooperate with the expert mission but it refused. There is an exchange of letters attached to the report. 3/
Seems there was no concrete outcome to the visit by Austrian Chancellor Nehammer to Moscow YTD. The visit was an Austrian initiative (nobody asked Austria to get engaged). Here is a summary in POLITICO Playbook politico.eu/newsletter/bru… & a short write-up politico.eu/article/austri… 1/
Putin also evidently did not show any interest in #Austria taking over a mediation role, since the Russian President apparently (according to #Nehammer) expressed repeated support for the Istanbul negotiation process. 2/
Speaking w/ journalists via video link YTD, Nehammer explained that he wanted to personally "look him in the eye" to tell Putin about the horrors of war. Nehammer said he felt that personal meetings were important. (I have doubts any of this impresses Putin, to put it mildly.) 3/
Austrian Foreign Minister @a_schallenberg just gave a live interview on Austrian public TV taking questions on Ukraine. He was asked by anchor @ArminWolf why #Austria has not expelled any Russian diplomats after learning horrendous details about atrocities in #Bucha. 1/
Schallenberg: "I explicitly reserve the right to take this step and expel Russian diplomats if it is proven that there is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations." (Here is the convention: legal.un.org/ilc/texts/inst…) 2/
Schallenberg on ORF TV also "regrets" that the expulsions of Russian diplomats have not been taken "in concert" with all 27 EU member states. Says he would have preferred it that way. 3/
Carpenter @USAmbOSCE quotes American writer John Steinbeck: "A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil?” 2/
Carpenter also says that as the terrible news from Bucha emerged with "photos of bloodied civilian corpses with hands tied behind their backs", Russian MFA Spox Maria Zakharova "tweeted about the injustice of being turned away from a Chanel store". He calls this "callous". 3/
BREAKING: 45 (out of 57) OSCE participating states just invoked the so-called @OSCE Moscow Mechanism to set up a mission of independent experts to investigate the following in relation with the war in #Ukraine: 1/
- Establish the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions of OSCE commitments and violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law; 2/
- Establish the facts and circumstances of possible cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including due to deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure; 3/
Asked about the possibility to drop the outstanding IAEA safeguards probe in #Iran as part of a return to the 2015 #JCPOA, @iaeaorg DG @rafaelmgrossi gave a clear answer at today's presser in Vienna: 1/
"The IAEA will never abandon a process that it launched because of the necessity of clarification of certain situations in Iran because of a political reason. This is not how the IAEA works. I as DG would never do that." 2/
"What we need to do with Iran is to sit around the table and try to clarify these issues. The only way that these issues will go away is if they are clarified to the full satisfaction of the IAEA." 3/