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Austria`s Vice Chancellor Resigns

by VOA News

   Austria's vice chancellor has resigned.

   Heinz-Christian Strache stepped down Saturday after two German
   newspapers -- Der Spiegel and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung -- posted video
   footage of him appearing to offer state contracts to a potential
   Russian benefactor.

   Strache said Saturday he was the "victim of a targeted political
   attack," but admitted that his actions in the video were "stupid and a
   mistake."

   Political analysts say the scandal throws into the question the
   governing coalition between Strache's anti-immigration Freedom Party
   and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's center-right People's Party.

   Neither politician has commented on the future of their alliance.