VIENNA, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has criticized Kiev's decision to build wall-like fortifications on the eastern border with Russia, saying Europe needed no more walls.
"I don't think we need any new walls in Europe," the 28-year-old minister said in an interview with the ORF radio station.
In early September, the Kiev government unveiled the so-called "Wall Project" that envisaged the construction of a reinforced barrier between Ukraine and Russia in six-month time. This followed a statement by the nation's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who urged to adopt a new military stance toward Russia, which he described as an "aggressor nation."
The new wall – to appear in Europe 25 years after the fall of the notorious Berlin Wall – is expected to stretch out for 2,300 kilometers between Ukraine and Russia.
The initiative came in the wake of Kiev's escalating military operation in the southeast, which rose in early 2014 against the coup-imposed government supported by zealous Ukrainian nationalist movements.
Austria's Sebastian Kurz also backed Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann's decision to go to Kiev in a bid to contribute to the conflict settlement.
"We support this effort. Austria's embassy in Kiev is preparing [Faymann's] meeting with President [Petro] Poroshenko. As the conflict is going through this sensitive phase [of a truce], it is essential to uphold any effort. All initiatives coordinated with the EU and OSCE can come in handy," Kurz told the ORF radio station.
He also said he supported the fresh round of sanctions against Russia, but added they could be scrapped as soon as the truce takes hold in Ukraine.
The current ceasefire came into force on September 5. It is said to be "largely holding," despite both the Ukrainian military and independence supporters in Donetsk and Luhansk regions blaming each other for having violated the accord in the immediate aftermath.
