After a scandal involving him with a Russian woman, Austria’s Vice-Chancellor is forced to resign

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache, leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, resigned on Saturday after revealing a video showing he was offering huge government contracts to a Russian woman in exchange for political and media support.

Strache, 49, told a press conference in Vienna that he had given Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz his resignation as Vice- Chancellor and that the Chancellor accepted it.

“I’ve committed a rift and I don’t want this to be a pretext to weaken the coalition”, said Strache, who had formed a government with conservative Chancellor Kurz at the end of 2017.

According to press reports, Strache showed his readiness ahead of last year’s parliamentary elections in 2017 to arrange government tenders for a wealthy Russian businesswoman in exchange for his campaign help.

German media, such as Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung, published details of the story, which were confirmed by video footage that reached them, and it transpired that the meeting of Strache on July 24, 2017, on the Spanish island of Ibiza, with a Russian woman in which agreements have been reached on her to acquire the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, so it will be help for his campaign.

It seems that the lady was only a good-old player who played a wealthy Russian role to lure Strache to talk about huge contracts in return for helping him win the election.

Strache denounced the “political targeting” he was subjected to, saying he hadn’t committed any offense, but admitted that his style during the conversation was masculine because he was consuming large quantities of alcohol.

He also denounced the “treachery” method, explaining that this meeting did not produce anything.

“The meeting was a private meeting in a relaxed and informal holiday atmosphere”, said Strache, who apologized to the women, his party and the Chancellor Kurz, saying he acted as “teenagers” for not being able to control his words.

According to the information, the meeting appeared to be a planned plot for Strache.

According to the videos, Strache said during the meeting that if the Russian woman took over the newspaper, she could work before the elections in favor of his party to publicize him, adding that in this case it wouldn’t be expected The party is 27%, but 34% in the elections.

The videos also show that, in return, Strache will offer support of the Austrian governments for the Russian Woman bid for a construction company that she’ll establish in the country.

According to the Der Spiegel, the Russian Woman also claimed that she’s close to a wealthy Russian businessman and wanted to invest a quarter of a billion euros in Austria, while noting that the money could be illegal.

However, Strache and Austrian Free Party member Johan Gooden are still six hours discussing the possibilities of investing in Austria.

Both the conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Free Austrian Right Party formed together in December 2017 a government coalition in Austria.

“I have repeatedly referred to the relevant legal provisions and the need to comply with the Austrian legal system in this conversation on all issue”, said Strache.

“A lot of alcohol was provided during the evening, and there was also a major language barrier”.

A week before the start of the European parliamentary elections, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz finds himself at the center of a huge crisis.

His spokesman said, the Austrian chancellor wanted to talk about the issue and its possible consequences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XibBH2Y2UXs