OMV Espionage Case: Russian Diplomat Left Austria

"He has already left the country," informed a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday afternoon in response to an APA inquiry. In return, Russia intends to expel an Austrian diplomat, announced the Russian embassy in Vienna on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Austrian information, the Russian diplomat left the country on September 24, a day before the "persona non grata" declaration took effect. Previously, the Russian embassy had refused to waive the diplomatic immunity of its employee, thus preventing investigations against him.

Russian "Countermeasures"

"The Russian Federation will soon expel an Austrian diplomat - in response to Vienna's decision to declare a Russian diplomat persona non grata," wrote the Russian embassy on Facebook. The Austrian side has already been informed about these "countermeasures".

The now-departed Russian diplomat had repeatedly met with a former OMV employee and was observed by the Directorate for State Protection and Intelligence Service (DSN), reported the news magazine "Profil" on September 19. During a house search of the OMV employee, numerous internal documents of the Austrian company were found, it was reported.

Few Details Known About the Suspected Espionage Case

Against the diplomat, whom Western services according to "Profil" consider an employee of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB, no criminal investigations were possible in Austria. Therefore, the Austrian Ministry of Justice requested, as part of a usual procedure, the Austrian Foreign Ministry to persuade the Russian embassy to waive the diplomatic immunity of the suspected intelligence officer. The Russian chargé d'affaires was also informed that the diplomat is considered an undesirable person under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, should immunity not be waived, explained the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. Unsurprisingly, the embassy did not comply with this request for immunity waiver.

Few details about the suspected espionage case itself have been disclosed so far - the Vienna public prosecutor's office has left a related APA inquiry unanswered since the beginning of last week. The Austrian acquaintance of the Russian diplomat is at large. According to "Profil", before his dismissal, he had not only worked for OMV itself but had also been temporarily seconded to OMV co-owner Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and thus had insights into both companies.

(APA/Red)

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