Moscow 'outraged' after Austria expels Russian diplomat for spying

Austria on Monday expelled a Russian diplomat for reported industrial espionage, prompting protests and a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.

The Austrian foreign ministry said the diplomat’s behaviour was “not in accordance with the Vienna Convention”, without providing further details.

But the local tabloid Kronen Zeitung said the diplomat had for years worked as an intelligence handler, running a source in a major technology company who recently confessed to espionage.

The Russian Embassy said it was “outraged by the unfounded decision of the Austrian authorities, which is damaging to constructive relations”.

Moscow’s foreign ministry later said it would expel an Austrian diplomat in response.

Austria and Russia have relatively warm ties. Two years ago Karin Kneissl, then the Austrian Foreign Minister, raised eyebrows when she invited Vladimir Putin to her wedding and shared a dance with the Russian President (below).

Vienna was one of the few European capitals not to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity with the UK in the fallout of the 2018 Skripal spy poisoning in Salisbury.

The expulsion is not the first espionage incident to trouble relations between the two countries this year.

In June, a retired Austrian army colonel was found guilty of spying for Russia’s military intelligence service for more than two decades. He was sentenced to three years.

Vienna is home to a large number of Russian diplomats working at the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe and the UN.