Austria Expels Russian Diplomat Amid Reports Of Economic Espionage

Austria on Monday took steps to expel a Russian diplomat, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Vienna said.

This, the country said, was in reaction to a report that the envoy was accused of economic espionage.

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“The reason is that his conduct is not in line with the Vienna Convention,’’ the spokesperson said.

He, however, declined to provide further details.

The Austrian Kronen Zeitung Newspaper, the diplomat’s covert activities came to light after an Austrian, who works in a technology company, confessed that he had carried out espionage on behalf of Russian, who was his intelligence handler.

Vienna’s diplomatic move comes two months after a retired Austrian army colonel was sentenced to three years in prison for having spied for Russia in a separate case.

Unlike other Western countries, Austria has traditionally sought close relations with Russia, which supplies significant amounts of natural gas to Western Europe via a pipeline hub near Vienna.

A large number of Russian diplomats are stationed in the Austrian capital to represent their country at UN organisations and at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

However, Russia reacted to the expulsion by suggesting that it could, in turn, expel an Austrian diplomat.

According to the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, “our embassy has already pointed to the traditional tit-for-tat principle’’.