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VIENNA (AP) — The arrest in recent days of a former Austrian intelligence officer on serious allegations of spying for Russia suggests that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/austria-seeks-explanation-from-germany-about-spying-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Austria</a> needs to boost its security to thwart Russian infiltration, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Monday.The allegations against Egisto Ott, who worked for a now-defunct intelligence agency and whose arrest was announced Friday, are "grave" and have prompted Nehammer to call a meeting next week of Austria’s National Security Council, the chancellor said. Ott has denied wrongdoing.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/austrian-ex-officer-suspected-of-spying-for-russia-since-90s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AUSTRIAN EX-OFFICER SUSPECTED OF SPYING FOR RUSSIA SINCE 90S</a>"On the one hand, these allegations have to be addressed by the judiciary. On the other hand, an evaluation and clarification of the security situation of the republic is needed," Nehammer said in a statement. "We have to avoid having Russian spy networks threaten our country by infiltrating or instrumentalizing political parties and networks."Nehammer said he would convene the National Security Council on Tuesday of next week. The council, which consists of government ministers as well as members of all political parties, is a key advisory panel on matters of security and defense.The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/vienna-court-convicts-alleged-accomplices-2020-islamic-state-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vienna</a> Criminal Court on Monday approved a 14-day extension for holding Ott in custody on the charges against him. The Vienna public prosecutor’s office declined to provide details about the spying allegations, but said that they relate to "abuse of office" and were "detrimental to Austria."Britain has arrested five Bulgarian citizens last year and a sixth one in February and has charged them with allegedly being members of a Russian spy network working together with Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former chief operating officer of Wirecard, the German payment processing company that collapsed in 2020.Joint reporting by Der Spiegel, German public broadcaster ZDF, the Austrian newspaper Der Standard and the Russian investigative platform The Insider said last month that Ott and another former Austrian intelligence officer are suspected of having spied on potential targets in Europe and having passed the information to Jan Marsalek, who they allege has had connections to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/moscow-attack-shows-putins-grip-russia-not-nearly-as-tight-as-we-think-says-ex-us-ambassador-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian</a> intelligence since at least 2014.They also reported that Ott and his colleague allegedly helped Marsalek secretly escape from Austria in a private jet in 2020 after the Wirecard collapse.Ott rejected the accusations against him as baseless in a recent interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</a>There have been previous allegations against Ott. In 2017, Western intelligence agencies warned their Austrian counterparts about Ott potentially spying for Russia. Ott was suspended from his job at the BVT in 2017 and was briefly arrested in 2021, but he was released again after a short period of time.Austria expelled two Russian diplomats from Russia’s embassy in Vienna last month in what Austrian officials said was related to spying.

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published: 2024-04-01 18:37:04.000000000 Z
carlessian_info:
 news_filer_version: 2
 newspaper: US - Fox News
 macro_region: USA
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 guid: https://www.foxnews.com/world/austria-says-must-deter-russian-infiltration-allegations-spying-emerge
title: Austria says it must deter Russian infiltration after allegations of spying
 emerge
categories:
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content: VIENNA (AP) — The arrest in recent days of a former Austrian intelligence
 officer on serious allegations of spying for Russia suggests that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/austria-seeks-explanation-from-germany-about-spying-reports"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">Austria</a> needs to boost its security to thwart
 Russian infiltration, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Monday.The allegations
 against Egisto Ott, who worked for a now-defunct intelligence agency and whose arrest
 was announced Friday, are "grave" and have prompted Nehammer to call a meeting next
 week of Austria’s National Security Council, the chancellor said. Ott has denied
 wrongdoing.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/austrian-ex-officer-suspected-of-spying-for-russia-since-90s"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">AUSTRIAN EX-OFFICER SUSPECTED OF SPYING FOR
 RUSSIA SINCE 90S</a>"On the one hand, these allegations have to
 be addressed by the judiciary. On the other hand, an evaluation and clarification
 of the security situation of the republic is needed," Nehammer said in a statement.
 "We have to avoid having Russian spy networks threaten our country by infiltrating
 or instrumentalizing political parties and networks."Nehammer said he would
 convene the National Security Council on Tuesday of next week. The council, which
 consists of government ministers as well as members of all political parties, is
 a key advisory panel on matters of security and defense.The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/vienna-court-convicts-alleged-accomplices-2020-islamic-state-shooting"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vienna</a> Criminal Court on Monday approved a 14-day
 extension for holding Ott in custody on the charges against him. The Vienna public
 prosecutor’s office declined to provide details about the spying allegations, but
 said that they relate to "abuse of office" and were "detrimental to Austria."Britain
 has arrested five Bulgarian citizens last year and a sixth one in February and has
 charged them with allegedly being members of a Russian spy network working together
 with Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former chief operating officer of Wirecard, the
 German payment processing company that collapsed in 2020.Joint reporting
 by Der Spiegel, German public broadcaster ZDF, the Austrian newspaper Der Standard
 and the Russian investigative platform The Insider said last month that Ott and
 another former Austrian intelligence officer are suspected of having spied on potential
 targets in Europe and having passed the information to Jan Marsalek, who they allege
 has had connections to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/moscow-attack-shows-putins-grip-russia-not-nearly-as-tight-as-we-think-says-ex-us-ambassador-ukraine"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian</a> intelligence since at least 2014.They
 also reported that Ott and his colleague allegedly helped Marsalek secretly escape
 from Austria in a private jet in 2020 after the Wirecard collapse.Ott rejected
 the accusations against him as baseless in a recent interview with the German magazine
 Der Spiegel.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK
 HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</a>There have been previous allegations
 against Ott. In 2017, Western intelligence agencies warned their Austrian counterparts
 about Ott potentially spying for Russia. Ott was suspended from his job at the BVT
 in 2017 and was briefly arrested in 2021, but he was released again after a short
 period of time.Austria expelled two Russian diplomats from Russia’s embassy
 in Vienna last month in what Austrian officials said was related to spying.
summary: After a former Austrian intelligence officer was arrested for allegedly spying
 for Russia, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Austria needs to boost its security
 to prevent Russian infiltration.
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url: https://www.foxnews.com/world/austria-says-must-deter-russian-infiltration-allegations-spying-emerge
image: https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/04/Austria-Espionage-Russia.gif

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