Austria to convene national security council next week over rf espionage
Kyiv • UNN
Austria convenes national security council over detention of former intelligence officer suspected of spying for russia's FSB.
In Austria on April 9 will convene the National Security Council after the detention of former intelligence officer Egisto Ott, who may have spied for the fsb. This was announced by Austrian Chancellor Austria Karl Nehammer on social network X, reports UNN.
There are serious allegations of espionage. On the one hand, these charges need to be clarified by the judiciary, and on the other hand, there is a need for an assessment and clarification of the impact of these charges on the security situation in Austria. I will therefore convene a National Security Council on April 9.
Details
In an interview with an Austrian publication, he also stated that the
Russian spy networks threaten our country by infiltrating or exploiting political parties or associations.
At the end of March, Austrian media reported about the detention of an ex-officer of special services on suspicion of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation. We are talking about Egisto Ott.
According to Der Standard newspaper, Ott is suspected, among other things, of passing phone data from three high-ranking officials in the Austrian interior ministry to the FSB of Russia.
The information was stolen in the summer of 2022 from the devices of Michael Kloibmüller, who for many years ran the office of the head of the Austrian Interior Ministry, Federal Police Director Michael Takács and the head of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, Gernot Mayer.
DW notes that in early March, the name of a former intelligence officer was mentioned in an investigation by Der Spiegel and The Insider about the former director of the financial company Wirecard Jan Marsalek (Jan Marsalek), who, according to the media, has worked for Russian intelligence services for many years.
According to journalists, Ott helped set up Marsalek as a spy cell for Russian intelligence services, and helped spy on journalist Hristo Grozev after the publication of an investigation into the poisoning of Russian politician Alexei Navalny by FSB officers.