VIENNA, May 18 (WNM staff) - Austria’s vice chancellor and far right FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache's has announced his resignation after a meeting with a fake Russian oligarch who allegedly wanted to invest about a quarter of a billion euros in Austria in order to help the FPÖ to first place - in return for state orders. One day after the video, which had already been produced almost two years ago, was made public, Strache declared his resignation on Saturday at noon.
At a press conference in Vienna, he announced his resignation from the posts of Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the ruling Freedom Party.
“On Sunday, at the party presidium, I will organize the transfer of powers of the Chairman of my party and resign from the post of the party’s leader [Austrian Freedom Party],” Strache said.
The centre-right coalition is since on the brink of collapse: Austrian media are reporting an increase of statements in the conservative party ÖVP to end the coalition with the FPÖ and announce snap elections after the release of the devastating video. According to recent polls, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz may be able to even reach the absolute majority in the Austrian parliament.
Strache said that the meeting with an allegedly Latvian woman and a German citizen had been staged by “Intelligence services” with the purpose to bring down the right wing Austrian government. However, the FPÖ politicians were caught on tape with stunning remarks: The conversation, which took place at a luxury mansion at Ibiza, included the offer to buy a stake in Austria's largest newspaper Kronen-Zeitung and turn the paper into a mouthpiece for the FPÖ. Strache also promised the fake Russian woman to strip Austria's largest construction company Strabag from public contracts. In tne meeting, also top FPÖ-politician Johann Gudenus was present. He also resigned from all political positions on Saturday.
The country’s Audit Chamber demanded that the Freedom Party should clarify the statements of its leader. The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office took up the verification of information about secret funding of the Austrian Freedom Party.
The Konen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper, reacted with outrage and suggested, that the scandal could even mean the end of the FPÖ. The FPÖ has a partnership with Vladimir Putin's One Russia party. Gudenus, who in the video also speaks Russian, is seen as the main contact person to Russia. Russian state TV reported about the events, stressing that the fake oligarch was not Russian, but Latvian origin.
According to the SZ report, the woman was obviously a decoy. Both media claim that the video was leaked to them. It is unknown who had staged the scene for the meeting. SZ said in an ORF-interview that they could not disclose their source. The newspaper said, they had verified the video with experts. FPÖ representatives did not dispute the meeting, but said, it had been an evening with a lot of alcohol. The video shows the politicians acting with clear voices and without any signs of being drunk.
The newspaper "Die Presse" reports with reference to intelligence sources, that the at action has been performed as a production of a western intelligence service. After all, the professionally worked out profile of the decoy and the technical effort behind it would point to professionals just as much as the fact that not only the villa on Ibiza, where the meeting had taken place, but also the luxury cars parked in front of it had been rented in order to make the scenery appear perfect.