Austria toughening espionage law to address Vienna’s ‘den of spies’ image

• Austria plans to toughen spying laws to fight Vienna’s image as a “den of spies” after several Russian diplomats were expelled.
• The government will widen the legal definition of spying and raise the maximum jail term from five years to 10 years.
• Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said diplomatic status must not be abused, and Austria is “no longer looking the other way”.

VIENNA - Austria’s government outlined plans on Nov 11 to widen the legal definition of spying and increase the maximum sentence for it, seeking to stamp out Vienna’s long-standing reputation as a den of spies after the expulsions of several Russian diplomats.

The Austrian capital, which for a decade following World War II was divided into Allied occupation sectors, is now a major diplomatic centre. It hosts international organisations including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and UN bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That offers the opportunity to station intelligence agents there under the cover of diplomatic immunity. Russian diplomats expelled in recent years have worked at the Russian embassy to Austria, as well as Russia’s missions to the UN and OSCE.

“Vienna is repeatedly referred to (in media reports) as a capital of espionage, for historical reasons. At the same time, a certain Third Man romanticism plays a role there,” Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger told reporters, referring to the film starring Orson Welles set in postwar Vienna.

“I would like to clean up and put an end to that,” she said, before a Cabinet meeting, unveiling a Bill that will be submitted to Parliament after a review of several weeks.

Austria will no longer ‘look the other way, minister says

Currently, Austrian law bans spying to the detriment of Austria, with offences subject to a maximum sentence of just five years.

The centrist coalition government plans to increase the maximum sentence to 10 years, she said, and widen the definition to also cover espionage against international organisations and the European Union, in which case a sentence of up to five years would apply.

“Diplomatic status should not be abused as a cover for spying activities on our soil... We are no longer looking the other way, and we have changed course,” Meinl-Reisinger said.

Austria expelled four Russian diplomats in October for actions incompatible with their diplomatic status, a term generally used for spying, bringing to 18 the number of Russian diplomats it has forced to leave the country since 2020.

While Austria is a neutral country, politically its governments have sided with Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. REUTERS