The warrant come amid a political crisis in the country that has been raging since the infamous “Ibiza video”.
The arrest warrant was issued this week by the public prosecutor’s office in the city of Salzburg. Notably, the two individuals implicated have been traced after an investigation by a foreign intelligence service, Russian news agency TASS reported.
The Russian citizen has been identified as Igor Egorovich Zaytsev. Austrian officials allege that the Moscow-born Zaytsev is in fact an intelligence officer for the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, known as the GRU.
The GRU is regarded as Russia’s primary military-intelligence agency. The retired colonel served in the Austrian Federal Army.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior said that Zaytsev had facilitated the “betrayal of state secrets” and that his actions had been “to the detriment of the Republic of Austria”.
The arrest warrant accuses Zaytsev of having participated in the “intentional disclosure of a military secret”, but it does not provide any details. In a subsequent statement, Austrian police linked the warrant with a blurry espionage case that was reported in the Austrian media last year.
The statement said that Zaytsev is believed to have recruited “Martin M” to spy on Austria. This appears to coincide with the arrest of a 70-year-old colonel stationed in Salzburg in November last year.
According to Austrian media, the accused provided information on a range of weapons systems as well as personal details of high-ranking officers in the Austrian Armed Forces. But his lawyer says that his client refuses to recognise himself as a spy because he has never disclosed any state secrets.
Soon after the arrest of the colonel, Austrian authorities arrested a second individual, identified only as “O”, who is also suspected of having spied for Russia.
According to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office, the individual was an employee of the Austrian Office for Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, known as BVT. It is not known whether Zaytsev’s case is related to the second arrest.
Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Friday: “We deeply regret that there are those who seek to revive last November’s ‘hot topic’ about Russian spies in Austria, which we thought has been resolved with our Austrian partners. At least, all our bilateral contacts with the Austrian leadership have been held in this atmosphere in the recent months.”
The ministry added: “Notably, the accusations are worded in the notorious ‘highly likely’ style. Since such fakes are never meant to initiate a serious conversation, we see no point in commenting on them.”
The retired Austrian colonel will meanwhile not be testifying on espionage case against the Russian national.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he was unpleasantly surprised to see no request from Vienna for explanations over the allegations.
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