Austrian chancellor says Putin believes he is winning the war

Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer told NBC that he thinks Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is “in his own war logic” after speaking to him this week. 

He said that Mr Putin believes he is winning the war. 

Nehammer was the first European leader to meet Putin in Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. 

He said: “We have to look in his eyes and we have to confront him with that, what we see in Ukraine.’’ 

Before arriving in Moscow last Monday, Nehammer had visited Bucha, the town outside of Kyiv where graphic evidence of killings and torture has emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

The chancellor said he confronted Putin with what he had seen in Bucha, and “it was not a friendly conversation.” 

He added that Putin said “he will cooperate with an international investigation, on one hand, and on the other hand, he told me that he doesn’t trust the Western world. So this will be the problem now in the future.” 

Photo – A composite image of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, 07 April 2022 (L) and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna, Austria, 25 February 2022 (R). EPA-EFE/KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK / BRUNA