A demonstration against the Russian attack on Ukraine in front of the Russian embassy in Vienna in February
Image: AFP
After some hesitation, Austria joins the EU and asks Russian diplomats to leave the country. The government knows that a particularly large number of agents are active in neutral Austria.
MAustria hesitated for several days, and on Thursday the government in Vienna also joined the EU states that expelled Russian diplomats. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the diplomatic status of three employees of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one employee of the Consulate General in Salzburg will be revoked. The persons must leave Austria by April 12 at the latest. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg had so far not shown himself willing to take such a step and justified this, among other things, with Vienna’s status as the seat of international organizations.
The reason given for the expulsion was that the individuals had committed acts incompatible with the Vienna Convention. This is usually the phrase used for intelligence work. Russia criticized this as an “unfriendly” measure. The embassy in Vienna announced that Austria had not submitted any evidence of illegal activity by the diplomats. Domestically, the reaction to the move by Schallenberg, who belongs to the Christian Democratic Chancellor’s Party ÖVP, was divided. The liberal opposition party Neos and the Greens, coalition partners of the ÖVP, had previously called for expulsions, while the social-democratic SPÖ had kept a low profile. The right-wing FPÖ, on the other hand, criticized that Austria was tearing down the last remaining bridge of diplomacy. The FPÖ is close to the Russian ruling party, with which it has concluded a friendship and cooperation agreement.
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