wintermelisa

· 16 Jul 2021

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The Austrian vice-chancellor resigned because of negotiations with the "niece of a Russian oligarch. He asked her for money and promised her great influence in Austria

Austria's Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache resigned after German media published a video in which he promised the woman, who speaks Russian and English, to help him get lucrative construction contracts and buy Austrian media in exchange for funding his far-right party. The recording was made in Ibiza in the summer of 2017, and Strache's alleged interlocutor is a relative of Russian entrepreneur Igor Makarov, who is in the oil and gas business.

The leader of the Austrian far-right promised to make "the niece of a Russian oligarch" one of Austria's most influential women.
On Friday, May 17, German newspapers Suddeutsche Zeitung and Der Spiegel published a video showing Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache and his deputy in the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (APS) Johan Gudenus discussing financial and political affairs with the alleged niece of a Russian oligarch named Alena Makarova. They are talking about a possible "investment" of about 250 million euros. The video marked the beginning of the biggest political scandal in modern Austrian history.

The footage was taken in July 2017 at a villa located on the Spanish island of Ibiza. In exchange for financial aid for the parliamentary elections in October of that year, Strache promises his interlocutor help with government construction contracts. He speaks of his intention to take the relevant contracts away from Austria's largest concern Strabag, whose longtime co-owner Hans-Peter Haselsteiner is extremely unflattering. It is worth noting that Oleg Deripaska and Basic Element control 25.9% of Strabag through a Cypriot offshore firm.

Strache also discusses the possible purchase by Russian business people of half of the popular Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung shares. According to the politician, if the paper had supported the APS during the election campaign, it would have claimed 34% of the vote instead of the 27% predicted by-polls at the time. To the future owner of the newspaper, which is read by up to half of Austria's population, he promises to be one of the ten most influential people in the country who are open to any business. As for SZ notes, the future vice-chancellor wants to see the Austrian media modeled on neighboring Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing populist in Europe, has won them loyalty to the authorities. He calls the journalists "the biggest whores on the planet."

Der Spiegel stresses that the alleged relative of the Russian businessman repeatedly made it clear that the money would be disbursed through semi-legal channels, but Strache did not stop him. The meeting lasted more than six hours, during which he himself suggested several ways to circumvent Austrian law prohibiting large foreign investments in political parties.

According to SZ, Strache "demonstrated that he is a cosmopolitan with excellent connections who knows how the world really works." According to the journalists, he wanted to impress his companion by listing famous people from various countries who had already agreed to finance the Freedom Party, as well as by telling her about his own lifestyle - "1,600 euros for dinner for 12 people."

He mentioned the Israeli political strategists he had hired, who had previously advised Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and the Brexit organizers. Strache regretted that Austria's future was in the "decadent West" rather than in Eastern Europe, where people were still "normal," but at the same time advised his companion not to invest in either Croatia or Serbia. During the conversation, the participants were constantly smoking and drinking.

Strache called the video a "targeted political assassination".
German publications said they asked Strache and Gudenus to comment on the May 15 video. In a written comment sent via WhatsApp, the vice-chancellor described the meeting as "friendly, informal and non-binding." He also pointed out that during the conversation, he repeatedly urged strict compliance with Austrian law. Both politicians said they had never received help from their interlocutors.

In October 2017, the Freedom Party won almost 26 percent in the parliamentary elections, its best result since 1999. Strache became the country's vice-chancellor and sports minister. The post of chancellor went to the conservative Austrian People's Party leader, Sebastian Kurz, who has since been repeatedly accused of using populist, anti-immigrant, and anti-European rhetoric and getting closer to Russia the issue of lifting sanctions.

On May 18, the day after SZ and Der Spiegel published the video, Strache announced his resignation as vice-chancellor and party leader. He stated that what happened in Ibiza "was stupid, irresponsible, and a mistake." He said he had been drunk and had not been fully conscious of his own words. The politician apologized to his wife for his "drunken prank."

At the same time, Strache called the video a "targeted political murder" and demanded an investigation into how the tape came into the possession of the media. SZ and Der Spiegel refused to reveal their sources, citing an obligation to protect their confidentiality. At the same time, the former vice-chancellor believes that the filming of the private meeting and its further dissemination is knowingly illegal, and therefore demands to find those responsible. He also insists on the publication of the full six-hour video.

Strache has named Norbert Hofer, who has always been seen as his shadow in the Freedom Party, as his successor in both positions. In 2016, Hofer lost the Austrian presidential election in the second round, and a court later overturned the results. However, he still lost to the Green politician Alexander Van der Bellen in the runoff vote. However, Austria is a parliamentary republic, and most of the power belongs to the government headed by the chancellor.

Chancellor Kurz had two choices: either accept the appointment of Hofer as his deputy or refuse to continue working with the Freedom Party and go to early elections, which in this case are likely to be held in the fall. Austrian experts believe that Kurz is popular enough not to be afraid of re-election. Because of the scandal around the Russian money, his People's Party may lose the votes of some disappointed voters of the Freedom Party. Under the best of circumstances, he will be able to form even a one-party government. What also spoke against Hofer's appointment was that during the conversation in Ibiza, Strache referred to him as his future successor, whom he trusted completely.

Strache's own political career, according to most Austrian analysts, had come to an end. In his youth, he participated in the activities of semi-Nazi organizations that aimed to create a unified German state based on Germany and Austria and several "historic German states. Nevertheless, in the mid-2000s, he managed to bring the Freedom Party back into big Austrian politics after several sensitive defeats and even gave it the appearance of conservative respectability. But it is unlikely that he will be able to return to big politics after such a scandal. The European parliamentary elections at the end of next week may be the first to be affected.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who recently replaced Angela Merkel as leader of the German Christian Democrats, has already said that the Strache case proves that right-wing populists in all countries "are willing to sell out their homeland for their own good.

Who is Alyona Makarova, with whom the Austrian politician talked
One of the main questions about the scandalous videotape is the Russian woman with whom Austrian politicians talked. Der Spiegel reports that in addition to Russian, she also has Latvian citizenship. Moreover, some journalists find the connection between Alyona Makarova and the owner of Lifestyle Properties, Irena Markovich.

Some Austrian media believe that the woman in the video, identified as Alena Makarova, is the niece of Igor Makarov, the gas company Itera. The businessman sold his assets to Rosneft in 2013, but as Forbes wrote in 2017, he planned to return to major energy projects in Russia.

Makarov is also linked to Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, who was involved in several criminal cases and now lives in Austria.

#ibizagate