“Acute plot" about Russian spies ": the Russian Foreign Ministry responded to the accusations against the Russians in Austria

The “espionage scandal” with Vienna has been exhausted and there can be no serious discussion on this topic between Moscow and Vienna, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“We are very sorry that there are those who want to revive the“ sharp plot ”thrown in November of last year about the Russian spies in the Alpine Republic, which we, with our Austrian partners - in our understanding - have closed. In any case, it was in this spirit that all bilateral contacts with the leadership of Austria took place in recent months, ”the Foreign Ministry reported to RIA Novosti.

The Foreign Ministry noted that the accusations “are voiced in the notorious“ highly likely ”style.

“Since the purpose of such stuffing is not a serious conversation on the merits (otherwise it would be conducted through other channels), we don’t see any comment on their meaning,” summed up in the Foreign Ministry.

On the eve, the law enforcement authorities of Austria put Igor Zaitsev, a citizen of Russia, on the wanted list, saying that he suspected him of secret activities in favor of the GRU.

Member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Anton Morozov in an interview with RT called the events around the “spy scandal” too politicized.

“If Russian citizens who are in Austria and are engaged in allegedly illegal activities have any complaints, there are established international standards and national legislation, according to which persons who do not have diplomatic immunity can be brought to justice”, - said parliamentarian.

At the same time, he noted that the secret services never work in this way, do not seek public publicity and do not look for violators with the involvement of the media and the public.

According to the Austrian side, the Russians allegedly conducted secret activities “to the detriment of the Republic of Austria”. Russians are also suspected of recruiting a retired Austrian colonel.

"The officer-supervisor of the GRU is suspected of having inclined a 70-year-old retired colonel of the Austrian armed forces to assist the secret intelligence service to the detriment of Austria, divulging state secrets and deliberately issuing military secrets," the Salzburg prosecutor's office reports.

Also in the Austrian department said that the development of a suspect in espionage Zaitsev, allegedly an employee of the GRU, led the foreign secret service.

“In the course of the investigation of the foreign intelligence service, an operational work meeting was conducted between the spy of the Austrian armed forces and the Russian officer,” the prosecutor’s office said.

According to the prosecutor's office, during this meeting, the Russian allegedly handed over about € 30 thousand in cash to the Austrian for “issuing information”.

We are talking about the development of the situation, which became known in November 2018. Then the Austrian side detained a retired colonel on suspicion of spying for Russia.

Then the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz said that the former officer was suspected of collaborating with the Russian intelligence service, which allegedly lasted from the early 1990s until 2018.

The situation was discussed at the level of foreign ministers. Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneisl. According to him, the minister explained the motives for making decisions in Vienna and "expressed the hope that the steps taken would not affect the further development of bilateral cooperation."

His version of the incident also outlined by the Austrian media. In particular, the Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported that the former Austrian Armed Forces officer allegedly collected and transferred to Russia information about the country's defense systems, high-ranking military personnel, the migration crisis and many other things over the past 20 years.

Political analyst Alexander Asafov connects the new development of the history of the “spy scandal” with external forces that are trying to interfere in relations between Russia and Austria. He said this in an interview with RT.

“Certain forces in the West did not like the warm relations between Russia and Austria, the developing relations, including the visits of Sebastian Kurtz, the return visit of Vladimir Putin. By certain manipulations, they try to interfere in this communication, ”the expert believes.

In his opinion, there is an aggravation of the anti-Russian agenda and for this purpose, exhausted conflicts are used.

“The completed conflict with the spy is intended to reinforce the negative. But I do not think that all this will have consequences for Russian-Austrian relations. Nevertheless, the task was accomplished in the media agenda, ”Asafov concluded.