Austria is a “real aircraft carrier” of the Russian special services in Europe, writes Financial Times in an article about the agents of the occupying country of the Russian Federation with reference to an anonymous representative of European intelligence.
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According to one European diplomat from Vienna, quoted by the publication, the Austrian intelligence agency BFV “is considered so compromised that for some time it was excluded from most European intelligence-sharing activities.”
“The country’s Defense Ministry is practically a division of the GRU,” added the diplomat, who requested anonymity.
The Austrian office told the FT that it could not comment on the anonymous accusations, but pointed out that the current government of the country “is carrying out a large-scale reform of the security agencies.”
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The publication notes that monitoring the Kremlin’s espionage activities in the West “has become even more urgent” after Russian invasion of Ukrainebut “many countries are still trying to track down the secret activities of Moscow on their territory.”
Eight active European intelligence officers and diplomats interviewed by FT said that Russia’s undercover activities in Europe are “expanding at a pace that counterintelligence efforts are struggling to keep up.” One Eurointelligence official estimates that “dozens” of Russian agents are still operating in Germany, France and Belgium.
“What we know about this is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg. There has been a conspiracy of silence for years where Western powers don’t want to talk about Russia’s actions or even prosecute them,” said Keir Giles, senior fellow at the Russia Program at think tank Chatham House.
Some countries in Europe, the newspaper writes, still rely on the intelligence of the United States and Britain due to the limitations of their counterintelligence and lack of resources.
- March 19, 2022 Ukraine left employees of the Belarusian embassy in Kyiv.
- On March 23, it was reported that 45 suspicious Russian diplomats were found in Poland – all spies were expelled.
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