VIENNA – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin made a brief visit to Austria on Saturday to attend the wedding of the Alpine country’s minister of foreign affairs, Karin Kneissl.

The wedding between Kneissl and her businessman groom Wolfgang Meilinger took place in the southern municipality of Gamlitz.

Putin even danced with Kneissl as part of her big day.

Putin’s invite to the Austrian diplomat’s wedding sparked a wave of criticism within the country and beyond.

Austria was currently presiding the Council of the European Union and involved in mediating the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Kneissl, 53, who took on her ministerial role in 2017 as an independent and was backed by the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), married Meilinger amid tight security measures near the border with Slovenia.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ party leader Heinz-Christian Strache also attended the occasion, along with other members of the coalition government.

According to Austria’s national news agency APA, Putin presented the newlyweds with a choir performance from Russia.

The Russian was then set to travel to neighboring Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.