One in Six Russian Diplomats in Austria Linked to Russian Intelligence

At least 21 of the 117 Russian diplomats working at Russia’s embassy in Vienna and its missions to international organizations in Austria have links to Russian intelligence services.

The figures come from Rupep.org, a database of public figures, and were analyzed by the Russian outlet Agentstvo using publicly available lists of diplomatic personnel.

At least eight of the 48 diplomats accredited to the Russian Embassy in Austria have ties to Russia’s intelligence agencies, including the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and the Federal Security Service.

Among the embassy’s diplomats linked to the intelligence services are an adviser, a military attaché, and several secretaries whose registered addresses are linked to the headquarters of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Intelligence Service Academy, and intelligence service housing.

At Russia’s permanent mission to the OSCE, seven of the 22 diplomats were found to have links to Russian security and intelligence agencies.

Employees of Russia’s mission to the OSCE used as their registered addresses the buildings of the Military Diplomatic Academy of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Russian Defense Ministry’s Federal Agency for Special Constructions, and facilities belonging to the General Staff.

Among the 47 Russian representatives to other international organizations in Vienna, five were found to have links to Russian intelligence services.

At Russia’s permanent mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), three staff members are linked to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Defense Ministry, and one of them also received income from a military unit associated with a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Two other diplomats linked to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Federal Protective Service’s secure communications service represent Russian interests at UN and UNIDO bodies.

The embassy’s additional structures also included a representative of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs in Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

The analysis does not include the administrative and technical staff of Russian diplomatic missions, whose lists remain unverified and are not publicly available.

In May, Austria expelled three Russian embassy staff members over suspected espionage, saying their activities were incompatible with their diplomatic status.