Austria orders four Russian diplomats out over suspected spying
Austria's Foreign Ministry has declared four Russian diplomats persona non grata for activities it says are incompatible with their diplomatic status. Three worked at the embassy in Vienna and one at Russia's mission to the OSCE.
Austria is expelling four Russian diplomats suspected of espionage. Three of them worked at the Russian Embassy in Vienna, and the fourth was posted to Russia's mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a security body based in the Austrian capital. The move follows an earlier expulsion in May, when Austria removed three embassy employees.
Official grounds
Austria's Foreign Ministry said the diplomats had engaged in activities incompatible with their diplomatic status. For that reason they were declared personae non gratae, meaning they are no longer welcome in the country.
What Profil reported
According to the magazine Profil, Austrian authorities had long been aware of all four and had kept them on internal lists of suspects for some time. An inquiry began in mid-August, after the outlet Proekt published a report on links between Russian diplomats in Europe and three Russian intelligence agencies: military intelligence (the GRU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The earlier case
In May, Austria expelled three Russian Embassy employees on suspicion of maintaining spying equipment. Profil reported that satellite dishes that Russia could use to intercept communications traffic had been found on the embassy's roof.
