WSJ: Vienna Emerges as Hub for Russian Espionage

The Austrian capital has become a major Russian espionage hub in Europe, from where anti-Western special operations are carried out.

The Wall Street Journal reported on this, citing sources in Austrian intelligence.

The publication notes that over the past two years, the number of Russian civil servants in Austria has increased to more than 500. More than half of them are diplomats and administrators. However, according to Austrian intelligence, up to half of them are spies.

Vienna is now a base for Russian clandestine operations, including financing and logistical support for murder, sabotage and recruitment across Europe, as well as industrial espionage and influence operations, according to European and U.S. intelligence.

Russian diplomats and support staff operate in Vienna from over 40 properties owned by Moscow and people or companies linked to the Russian state.

Surveillance equipment has sprouted up on the roofs of such properties.

An Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman said that the country’s intelligence agency was aware that Austria had become a target for Russian espionage and influence operations and that the agency countered threats from state actors within its legal limits. It is worth noting here that Vienna and Geneva have long been centers of global espionage.

Vienna-based Russian operatives are suspected of helping with the recruiting and financing of Russian operations such as tracking Western arms shipments to Kyiv in Poland.

It also refers to the murder of Maxim Kuzminov, a pilot of a Russian military Mi-8 helicopter who defected to Ukraine and then stayed in Spain.

Russia is rebuilding its spying network by recruiting civilians, organized-crime figures, hackers and private detectives for attacks on and surveillance of critical infrastructure and other operations across Europe.

“Russia sends large volumes of cash into neighboring countries such as Lithuania by road,” an Austrian intelligence official said. From there, Austria-based diplomats ferry it across Europe, often in diplomatic pouches that can’t be checked by police.

Now, other EU nations are considering a Czech proposal for a ban on Russian diplomats traveling outside the country where they are posted. Czech law enforcement officials have acknowledged that Russian or Russian-paid saboteurs were found by Czech police and prosecutors to be behind a number of attacks on munitions factories and civilian targets.