“Paradise for Russian Agents.” Return in an EU country

Schallenberg spoke online on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Committee in Luxembourg. His comments on the March arrest of former Austrian intelligence officer Egisto Ott, accused of spying for Moscow, break with the current image.

In 2017, Ott was suspended after allied intelligence reports accused him of selling classified information to Russian services. Three years later, he was indicted again, this time for Jan Marsalek, who was suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence when he fled Austria on a private jet.

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In late March 2024, Ott was arrested on charges of gathering intelligence from police databases to pass on to Russian intelligence officials.

Austria “may have been innocent in the past,” but it can no longer allow situations like this, especially in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine, Schallenberg stressed in an interview with Politico. – The situation is very clear, Austrian law must be respected and there can be no “but”. – he insisted.

Schallenberg announced his participation in a Ukraine peace conference to be held in Switzerland in mid-June. He assessed that the BRICS countries, especially Brazil, China and India, should be included in the talks on Ukraine, as they could influence Russia.

– The peace conference cannot be a mere sermon – he insisted that Europe must move beyond its “bubble”. And get involvedWork in other countries too.

– In the long term, these countries should provide Ukraine with the necessary minimum security guarantees, Schallenberg said. He also pointed out In the long run, all parties, including Russia, must participate in the negotiations. At the same time, he acknowledged that Moscow has not yet signaled “the slightest” that it is interested in “any meaningful peace process.”