Austria’s foreign ministry said on Friday it was expelling four Vienna-based Russian diplomats over “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status”, a term usually used for spying.
– “Based on findings by the Austrian security authorities, the Austrian foreign ministry has taken measures against four Russian diplomats in Vienna,” it said in a statement, adding that they had been declared personae non gratae and ordered to leave the country.
– Three of them worked at Russia’s embassy to Austria and one at the Russian delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on military security and arms control, the ministry said.
– The move brings to 18 the number of Russian diplomats Austria has expelled since 2020. While Austria is a neutral country, politically its governments have sided with Ukraine since Russia launched its all-out invasion in 2022.
– “Vienna is thoughtlessly following the West’s anti-Russian policy, and there will inevitably be an appropriate response to such measures,” the Russian embassy said in a statement on its website, describing the expulsions as “a further unfriendly step” towards Russia by the Austrian authorities.
– While Austria does not usually comment on the specifics of such expulsions, during the last round in May, when it expelled three Russian diplomats, it said it was because of an “antenna forest” on the roofs of Russian diplomatic buildings that could be used for spying.
– Vienna is a major diplomatic centre, hosting the OSCE and United Nations organisations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency.
– Larger countries like Russia and the United States often have separate ambassadors to Austria, the OSCE and UN organisations, each running an embassy or mission.
– Vienna, which was divided into Allied sectors after World War Two, has long had a reputation as a den of spies. The large diplomatic presence offers the opportunity to station intelligence agents there under cover of diplomatic immunity.