A group of Vienna-based electronic engineers and communication enthusiasts calling themselves NomenNescio - Latin for "I do not know the name" - has spent the past two years documenting the satellite equipment on Russia's largest diplomatic compound in the Austrian capital, the Financial Times has reported.
Using hundreds of high-resolution photographs and aerial images, the group has been able to determine which satellites Russia's intelligence operatives are targeting at any given time, "Hvylya" reports, citing the FT investigation.
Erich Moechel, a spokesperson for NomenNescio, told the FT that most of the dishes on the compound's rooftop point west - toward some of the 18 geostationary satellites located between the prime meridian and the 15th longitude. By examining the satellite receivers, known as low-noise converters or LNCs, mounted in front of the dishes, the group identified the frequencies being targeted.
"We identified four satellites," Moechel said: Eutelsat 3B, Eutelsat 10B, SES5, and Rascom QAF1. All four serve communications between Africa and Europe - suggesting Russia is using Vienna to intercept traffic far beyond the European theater.
The group also discovered that Russian technicians had installed special lenses in front of their LNCs, allowing them to "squint" at satellite signals across a much broader range than a standard setup would permit. This modification significantly expands the volume of communications Russia can intercept from a single dish.
NomenNescio has so far focused primarily on "Russencity" - the nine-acre compound on the east bank of the Danube housing the Russian mission to the UN. But Moechel noted that similar equipment has been detected on several other Russian-owned buildings across Vienna, including the embassy behind the Orthodox cathedral, the cultural center on Brahmsplatz, and a former sanatorium on Sternwartestrasse. "So far we have only really analysed a very small part of the activity," he said.