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Austrian chancellor believes alleged Russian ‘spy’ will be found ‘guilty’

The Austrian authorities said on November 9 that they had launched an investigation into a 70-year-old retired colonel, suspected of working for Russian intelligence since the 1990s
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz  EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNA
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
© EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNA

VIENNA, November 14. /TASS/. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is confident that the investigation into a retired Austrian colonel suspected of spying for Russia will reveal that those accusations are true.

"The Chancellor is not authorized to pass a verdict on whether the suspect will be convicted, or not. Austrian independent courts do that. As far as I know, there will be a guilty verdict. But as I’ve already said, it is up to an independent court," he stated a news conference after the government session.

The Austrian authorities said on November 9 that they had launched an investigation into a 70-year-old retired colonel, suspected of working for Russian intelligence since the 1990s and providing Moscow with information about Austria’s air force, artillery and the migration crisis. Following an interrogation, Salzburg’s prosecution office reported that the colonel is suspected of having committed a crime under two articles of the Austrian Criminal Code, namely intelligence work to the detriment of Austria, state secret disclosure and deliberate state secret disclosure. The investigation team said that all crimes could have been committed between 1992 and 2018. If the suspect is found guilty, he may face up to ten years behind bars.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously said that he was unpleasantly surprised to see no request from Vienna seeking explanations over the case. Austrian President and Commanders-in-Chief Alexander Van der Bellen urged everyone not to stir up tensions and called on the sides to wait for the outcome of the investigation. The president also said that he was surprised that the Austrian government had decided to inform the media about the case. Van der Bellen is also confident that the spy row would not seriously harm Austrian-Russian cooperation in the long term.