Ukrainian Ambassador Criticises Austrian Police
The Ukrainian ambassador, Vasyl Khymynets, recently criticised the Austrian police. The police had previously held an internal training event on the subject of Ukraine. Among others, the "Coordination Council of the Organisation of Russian Compatriots" was invited to the event, which played down the war and spread "Russian propaganda". The Ukrainian Embassy is outraged. Read on if you want to learn more about this exciting topic!
The event was organised by the Vienna police. / Picture: © Wikipedia / Plani
In order to sensitise the police forces in Vienna to the topic of the war in Ukraine, the Vienna police organised a training event on Ukraine. Besides police officers, the "Coordination Council of the Organisation of Russian Compatriots" (KSORS) was invited as a guest speaker.
The association, which is considered loyal to the Kremlin, caused a stir after it published a Facebook video after the event showing excerpts of the event. Apparently, the association had used the opportunity to spread theses justifying the war in Ukraine in the course of the training event. Among Ukrainian diplomats in Vienna, this cooperation of the police with the association loyal to the Kremlin caused "huge indignation".
In addition to the Slavic scholar Alois Woldan, who was invited directly by the police, three experts from the KSORS were also invited to the training event on Ukraine, according to APA information.
The justifications of the KSORS representatives range from doubts about the historical justification of a Ukrainian state to accusations of exaggerated Ukrainian nationalism.
The Ukrainian embassy in Vienna expressed anger at the police action. "The outrage is huge," a representative of the Ukrainian embassy in Vienna commented to APA on Tuesday. He condemned the choice of experts for the lecture and accused the police of giving Russians the opportunity to spread propaganda.
The Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Khymynets reacted uncomprehendingly. In a Twitter post, he criticised the Vienna police, cynically noting, "I guess you learned a lot there: why Russia is waging the war of extermination against Ukraine, how to react to Russian war crimes and atrocities against civilian Ukrainian population, etc."
Zynischer geht es nicht mehr, @LPDWien: Fortbildungsgsver-tung mit Aktivisten zur . Da hat man wohl viel gelernt: warum den Vernichtungskrieg gegen die führt, wie man auf Kriegsverbrechen & Gräueltaten gegen zivileBevölkerung reagiert etc https://t.co/9cEWFsLqA9
— Vasyl Khymynets (@VKhymynets) August 2, 2022
"The Vienna Provincial Police Directorate and also the Federal Ministry of the Interior distance themselves from the subjective representations and opinions published," a spokesperson for the Vienna police told APA on Tuesday evening.