About Karin Kneissl
Karin Kneissl (born 18 January 1965) is an Austrian diplomat, journalist, and politician. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2017 and 2019. Prior to assuming her government position, she was a lecturer. In politics, Kneissl advocated for closer relations between Austria and Russia. She is a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. From 2021 to 2022, she was a member of the board at Rosneft. She moved to Russia in 2023, where she heads a think tank at St. Petersburg State University. She has claimed that she was among the co-founders of the Austrian section of Médecins Sans Frontières in 1992/93, however the claim has been denied by the organization which has no record of her involvement. She criticized Zionism, founded by Austro-Hungarian publicist Theodor Herzl, as a "blood and soil ideology" based on German nationalism in the 19th century.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.