Austria's FM: Russia to Play Role in future European Security

Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said Russia has a role in the European security architecture and rejected the idea to deny Schengen visas to all Russians, as he spoke at a conference at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, on Monday, according to the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

"We must not overshoot the mark, for example by introducing a visa ban for 144 million Russians," Schallenberg said, the newspaper reported.

"We also have to think about the day after, the week after, and the months after," he added. 

Schallenberg stated that the European security architecture will have to include Moscow in one way or another in the future as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and as a nuclear power.

The top Austrian diplomat also mentioned that the OSCE should be retained as a negotiating platform and criticized Warsaw's refusal to invite Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the group's latest meeting in Poland.

While the minister was traveling to Paris for a one-day visit, he also met his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna. 

The Kronen Zeitung reported that Schallenberg told her that "a stable European security structure that ignores Russia is inconceivable".