The timing couldn’t have been better: the scandal caused by the exposure of a Russian spy in Vienna broke out right before Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl’s scheduled visit to Moscow. Since this is the same minister that had shortly before invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to her wedding, it doesn’t take a genius to surmise that her coming to the Russian capital would serve to further cultivate the traditionally amicable relations between the two countries. Obviously, Western Russophobes could not allow this to happen. All the more so, as the potential of the grand London-staged provocation with the Skripals, who have now vanished without a trace somewhere in the English countryside, seems to have been fully exhausted.
Quoting the famous Soviet movie The Diamond Arm, the Austrian capital is a true city of contrasts. On the one hand, it is rightly known for its cultural and artistic points of interest, but on the other, it is the seat of quite a number of important international organizations. No wonder that Vienna, the capital of a neutral nation in the middle of Europe, not only attracts thousands of music fans and architecture lovers, but is also a battlefield for intelligence services of various countries. It is only natural that sometimes their interests clash.
And so an officially not named, but, according to Austrian Defense Minister Mario Kunasek, “friendly” intelligence agency “helped” the Austrian colleagues to discover an elderly mole – a 70-year-old colonel, who retired from the Defense Ministry five years ago. He has allegedly been spying for Russia since 1988, supplying Russian agent “Yuri” with extremely classified information about the Austrian artillery systems, including anti-aircraft defense, the situation in the Air Force and sentiments among the high-ranking officers, as well as the population’s attitude towards immigrants. The diligent colonel received a whopping EUR 300,000 for all his hard work spanning three decades. The first report about the spy appeared in the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.
Most local media that reprinted the information and continued covering the topic wrote that the tip-off came from the German Military Counterintelligence Service, MAD (Militaerischer Abschirmdienst). On Monday, however, the Vienna-based Kleine Zeitung newspaper cited its own sources as saying that it had come from the British intelligence, Britain being allegedly especially unhappy about the warm relations between Vienna and Moscow.
Anyway, as soon as the reports about the “Russian spy” appeared in print, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was forced to immediately declare that “such actions” on the part of Russia “jeopardize its relations with the EU,” while the country’s President Alexander Van der Bellen, although pointing out that “espionage is unacceptable” and calling for an “exhaustive” investigation, said that he did not see a reason for overdramatising the situation.
Foreign Minister Kneissl described the arisen “suspicions” as “unacceptable interference in internal affairs” and cancelled her visit to Moscow. At the same time, prosecutors have just begun the investigation into an Austrian citizen’s alleged espionage for Russia, and it is difficult to say how much time it will take, their spokesperson in Salzburg said.
Since Austria does not have any proven reliable facts, but voiced its accusations against Russia for the entire world to hear, it is understandable that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he was “unpleasantly surprised” and harshly accused the Austrian authorities of resorting to “loudspeaker diplomacy”. There are channels through which direct explanations should be requested, in accordance with international norms of communication, he said.
Siegfried Beer, a historian from Graz researching intelligence services, also expressed surprise at the volume of accusations voiced against Russia. Speaking at the ZiB2 programme on the ORF TV channel, he pointed that there were “some odd facts in the case,” such as the amount of remuneration (EUR 300,000) that the Austrian colonel had received for the entire period of working for Russia. “This would seem more like an annual vacation allowance,” he said.
“Petitions to Moscow” are completely misplaced, Mr Beer said. If, indeed, some army officer sold information to Russia over the course of thirty years, it is necessary to “find out how it became possible and put things right in our own home.” “It is impossible to ban intelligence work entirely,” he argues. “All countries – big and small – are engaged in these activities pursuing their own interests.” “We are also engaged in espionage, for example, on the Balkans,” he pointed out.
It is worth recalling the outrage in the Austrian press over a big espionage scandal in June 2018, when it became known that the German foreign intelligence agency, BND, had been wiretapping all major Austrian agencies for many years. In 1999-2006 alone, it targeted almost 2,000 mobile and fixed-line phone and fax numbers, as well as e-mail addresses.
The numbers it intercepted belonged to the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the Defense Minister, the Interior Minister and the Finance Minister, as well as the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Austrian division of Interpol, the country’s Industry Chamber, Technical Universities in Graz and Vienna, the Federal Office for Immigration and headquarters of tens of companies situated in Austria, including weapons manufacturers, banks, steelmakers and machine-building enterprises.
The incident with the US National Security Agency tapping the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and phones of tens of German politicians has already become a textbook example. This and other unsightly facts in the lives of EU/NATO allies have been officially proven. So Austria’s present groundless accusations against Russia seem to be just another attempt to demonize Russia and to taint its relations with long-time good partners.
By the way, on Friday, i.e. almost immediately, the prosecutor’s office in Vienna announced detention of an employee of the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) “on suspicions of spying activities related to Russia.” The investigation into this case had begun back in November 2017, and the tip-off about the suspicious BVT employee once again came from a “friendly” intelligence service, reports the Austrian portal Oe24.
For some reason, it seems that even though the Austrian authorities could be truly grateful to this anonymous “friend,” they were forced to resort to “loudspeaker diplomacy.” That’s the feeling one gets.
