Short bio Karin Kneissl, foreign minister of Austria from 2017 to 2020. She has definitely made her own way, stepping from the halls of Austrian diplomacy to become a leading figure within the Federation. An independent expert on Middle Eastern affairs, Kneissl was brought into her ministerial position by the far-right Freedom Party. After exiting Austrian politics, she shot to fame for her fearlessly provocative views on international affairs. She is perhaps better known, however, for her increasingly tight ties to Russia.
Kneissl’s academic credentials are substantial. She served as a guest lecturer at all of Austria’s major institutes of technology, where she lectured on Middle Eastern affairs. In the meantime, she wrote a series of critique commentaries for Die Presse, an Austrian daily. She found herself leaving the publication after repeated editorial disagreements over the content of her prose.
During her tenure as foreign minister, Kneissl famously promoted Austria as a possible mediator of peace in the Middle East. Her brilliant insights were frequently clouded by her notion that cultural and religious narratives were the primary drivers of international relations. In a 2023 interview with Time magazine, she declared that biological considerations are central to the way countries relate to one another. She reiterated that hormones—the biochemical stuff—play a huge role in these dynamics.
Kneissl’s political career went from zero to 60 in a hurry. One of her former students introduced her to Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party. This connection proved pivotal, as Kneissl later published “The Spiral of Violence: Why the Orient and the Occident Cannot Get Along” in 2007, a work that reflected her perspectives on Middle Eastern dynamics.
Follow this up, in 2018, with Kneissl accepting a high-paying position on the board of Rosneft, Russia’s state-controlled oil giant. This decision deepened her ties to Russia. She did not return to Austria after 2020, first going to Nîmes in southern France, then leaving for Lebanon. In the meantime, she had to sustain herself on the income from her occasional lecture tour.
She later left her position and relocated to Russia. She currently heads the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia Key Issues (Gorki) of St Petersburg University. She has an outsized influence on Russian state media. There, she often takes aim at the European Union, claiming it is undergoing a “crisis of all rule of law.”
Kneissl’s inflammatory comments featured public pronouncements that Russia had already won the war in Ukraine. Critics along with some members of the diplomatic establishment have welcomed her refreshing candor, but they have found her observations dangerously naive. Fellow expert Thomas Schmidinger said that among this small, tight-knit group of Austrian Middle East experts, Kneissl was never seriously considered. He admonished her for dumbing down real problems by only presenting them through cultural and religious perspectives.
Underneath that assertive public persona, according to introspective accounts from former friends, was a troubled emotional underbelly. One former acquaintance remarked, “She seems a very sad person, someone not happy with how life has gone.” Another noted her aspirations were lofty: “She wanted to be a brilliant person who everyone likes… I don’t think she wanted to be an outcast.”
Token opposition to the OVP Kneissl was an unorthodox foreign minister. One aspect of this distinctive approach was illustrated by a diplomat who served under her. “She would get her hands dirty in parts of the bureaucratic process that a minister would never go near,” he said. Initially welcomed for her fresh perspective to disrupt traditional dynamics, her eventual departure from Austrian politics left some wondering about her motivations and aspirations.
When asked about the increased traffic in June 2024, Kneissl told a regional news agency. He implied that Western nations were out to break up Russia. This perspective provides important context to her present-day lobbying efforts on behalf of Russia’s geopolitical position. It puts her squarely within the underlying pro-Russian narrative that has taken root in some circles all across Europe.
Kneissl’s evolution from an academic and politician into a prominent figure within Russian media reflects broader shifts in international relations and highlights the complex interplay of personal ambition and geopolitical narratives. She is currently charting the waters of a short, yet powerful, new chapter in her life. It’ll be fascinating to watch how her views influence perceptions of Austria and Russia’s place on the world stage.