Austrian Chancellor says Putin showed no visible reaction to Zelensky's proposal of direct contacts

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Monday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that he had told the Russian leader that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wants to have talks with him.

"I also told him that President Zelensky wants a direct contact to hold talks. No visible reaction followed," he told a briefing for Austrian journalists, Report informs, citing TASS.

Nehammer’s visit was the first visit by an EU leader to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. Before coming to Moscow, the Austrian chancellor held talks with Zelensky in Kyiv.

The Austrian chancellor’s office said after his meeting with Putin that Nehammer’s visit to Moscow had three major humanitarian goals, namely to immediately cease hostilities, open humanitarian corridors to evacuate the wounded and vulnerable categories of the population, and ensure humanitarian access for the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations.