In conversation with ...

Ambassador Eigner, you studied law at the University of Graz. How did your studies prepare you for your diplomatic career?

Originally, I wanted to study French and Russian at the Interpreting Institute. However, I was advised against this at school in a very friendly but firm manner because of the career prospects. Therefore, I enrolled in the law program in addition to the interpreting program, completed this program and studied the language program only a little on the side. During my studies, however, I realized that I was not really interested in the core subjects of law, so I became more interested in international law and constitutional law. After graduating from Graz, I received a scholarship to study at the University of Strasbourg. There I studied international law and thus took a direction towards international professions and diplomacy. At random, I then took the entrance exam at the Foreign Ministry, which is required to be accepted into the diplomatic service. That was in 1985 and I have been working in the Foreign Ministry ever since.

Between 1987 and 1995, you worked as press attaché and, from 1992, as deputy head of mission at the Austrian Embassy in Moscow. How did you experience the country then compared to today?

Completely different. Anyone who has not experienced Russia, or at that time the Soviet Union, Moscow, in the 80s and seen with their own eyes what the city looked like back then, can not imagine. Today Moscow is a sophisticated metropolis with all amenities, luxury and flair. I started working there at a time when there was already - key words perestroika and glasnost - a slow opening, where you could also make your first contacts privately, because the Russians themselves were not afraid to meet with Western diplomats, where the worst fossilizations of the Soviet regime were already breaking up, and yet, compared to today, it is a gigantic difference. For example, you had to inform the Foreign Ministry if you wanted to leave the city. So you could go to St. Petersburg or Sochi, for example, but you had to notify the Foreign Ministry every time.

Did the experience of that time play a role in the decision to go back to Moscow?

Yes, a vacancy arose earlier than planned in 2017, outside the usual rotation scheme that we have. I was approached with the question of whether I would be interested in the position in Moscow. At that time, I was still working as the Austrian Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia in Belgrade. In view of the long and interesting time I had spent there in the 1980s, I said yes without thinking too much.

You have now been serving as the Austrian Ambassador to the Russian Federation in Moscow since December 2017. How do you currently experience everyday life in Moscow?

I experience a completely unknown Moscow. The streets have never been so empty, not even back in the 1980s when very few cars were on the road. Now the city is almost deserted, a strange sight.

At what point did the effects of the Corona crisis start to be felt?

Compared with Austria, the numbers here began to soar somewhat later. Accordingly, the quarantine measures were started later. Compared to Austria, the restrictions will certainly last even longer.

What do the restrictions look like in concrete terms?

We diplomats are somewhat exempt from this, but anyone who has a car, for example, has to register with a central office in Moscow and is then given permission via an app to drive that vehicle to work or to a certain destination defined as permissible to drive to. Otherwise, leaving the house is only allowed for shopping, walking the dog or visiting the doctor. Not allowed, for example, is to walk with children. Of course, this is a very drastic decision if you think now, for example, of a family with two to three children living in a high-rise building in a cramped apartment.

How have the restrictions changed your everyday life?

Colleagues have said to me - only half jokingly - that actually everything that makes up our actual work is now gone. Keeping in touch with all kinds of people, in ministries, with journalists, with other colleagues, this exchange of information in personal conversations is simply not possible at the moment.

What was the situation at the beginning of the crisis with regard to the return of Austrians?

At the beginning, when it became clear that the borders would be closed, that travel possibilities would be restricted or almost completely eliminated, we naturally had many Austrians who had stayed here - tourists, students - who wanted to return. There were still some commercial flights and the Foreign Ministry organized a repatriation flight from Moscow, as in many other cases worldwide. There were about 100 people here, not only Austrians, but also people from other countries such as the Czech Republic or Croatia, who were on this special flight.

How do you perceive the situation in Austria from afar?

Thank goodness we are already on the upswing again. The big question on everyone's mind now, of course, is how further normalization can succeed in the long term. The problem is that there are no empirical values for this situation. We will have to rely a lot on gut feeling.

What do you personally miss most about the current situation?

In local life, these are sports opportunities. I like to go and play tennis. Of course, that's not possible at the moment. But the biggest limitation is the proximity to the family. There are currently no flight connections and I could currently only come to Austria with the greatest effort. My family is in Vienna, my wife lives and works there and we currently don't know when there will be the next possibility for me to come to Vienna or for her to come to Moscow.

What lessons do you personally draw from the Corona crisis?

I think the lesson that the vast majority of us learn is that there is no guarantee for anything. We now have to do without so much that we simply took for granted. In addition, there is the socio-political experience of recognizing what counts, what is really essential for society to function. It is very noticeable that new weightings are being applied here. Whether these insights will last is, of course, another big question.

So back to the old normal again?

Probably not quite one-to-one. It would also be sad if this situation left no traces at all, but probably not as much as many now hope. After all, humans are very strong creatures of habit, which then also fall back into old patterns relatively quickly.

Thank you very much for the interview!