Austrian chancellor meets Putin in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 7, 2022. The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its assessment of Russia’s ability to repay foreign debt, Friday, April 8. That indicates Moscow could soon default on external loans for the first time in more than a century. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer says his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow was “very direct, open and tough”.

In a statement released by his office after the meeting on Monday, Mr Nehammer said his primary message to Mr Putin was “that this war needs to end, because in war both sides can only lose”.