As many as a third of Russia's roughly 500 diplomatic staff in Vienna are believed to be covertly working as spies, according to Austrian intelligence assessments cited in a Financial Times investigation.
Austria's domestic intelligence agency, the DSN, has gone further than merely estimating numbers - it has provided the government with a list of individuals it knows operate Russia's secret signals intelligence stations in the city, "Hvylya" reports, citing the FT. But officials believe acting on such information would only provoke Russia.
The DSN itself has publicly acknowledged the scale of the threat, warning in a recent report that "the technical capabilities and adaptable alignment of the Russian Federation's SIGINT stations pose a significant security risk in counter-espionage." Yet under Austrian law, espionage cannot be prosecuted unless it is carried out against national interest - a legal framework that effectively shields Russian operatives targeting other countries' communications from Austrian soil.
While the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted a wave of Russian diplomatic expulsions across Europe, neutral Austria took a markedly different approach. Vienna has shown little interest in expelling diplomats or taking other measures against Russian operatives, despite its own intelligence agency's recommendations.
At a time when Russian intelligence officers are under enormous pressure elsewhere in Europe, Vienna has become what one senior European diplomat called Russia's "hub in Europe." The city's status as host to major international organizations - UN agencies, the OSCE, the IAEA, and OPEC - provides both cover and targets for Russian signals intelligence operations.
Austria has been working behind closed doors to repair its security relationships with other European countries, and information about Russian activities in Vienna is being shared with allies, an Austrian security official told the FT. Diplomatic expulsions may not be on the table, the official said, but "that does not mean that there are not other ways in which Austria can help deter and disrupt Russian activity hostile to European interests."