VIENNA: Austrian oil, gas and chemicals group OMV has fired an executive over allegations of spying for Russia and a Russian diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Vienna as a result of the affair, news magazine Profil reported.
Profil magazine said the OMV employee allegedly attracted attention through meetings with a Russian diplomat suspected by Western intelligence services of being an agent of Russia’s domestic intelligence service FSB.
The magazine said that Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence had been monitoring the OMV executive, who was not identified, for several months.
OMV told Reuters it had terminated the employee’s contract with immediate effect and the company was cooperating fully with the relevant authorities.
“For data protection reasons, we cannot comment on further details regarding individual employment relationships,” an OMV spokesman said.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry told Reuters it was aware of the allegations and the pending criminal proceedings against a Russian diplomat.
The chargé d’affaires of the Russian embassy in Vienna has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry, and asked to waive the diplomat’s immunity.
“Otherwise, he would have been considered persona non grata and would have to leave Austria,” the Ministry told Reuters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment.
Austrian energy executive fired over alleged Russian spying links — magazine report says
https://arab.news/y3cmk
Austrian energy executive fired over alleged Russian spying links — magazine report says
- The OMV employee allegedly attracted attention through meetings with a Russian diplomat
- OMV told Reuters it had terminated the employee’s contract with immediate effect
France, Germany, Spain to resume delayed fighter talks, sources say
- A ministerial meeting is planned for the week of November 24
BERLIN/PARIS: France, Germany and Spain are set to resume high-level talks on the next phase of a major fighter project after delays caused by the recent political crisis in France, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
A ministerial meeting is planned for the week of November 24 as the three nations try to bridge differences over the next phase of the Future Combat Air System, which calls for a flying demonstrator model, two of the people said.
A third source said a meeting was planned but that its date had not yet been announced.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is separately due to meet his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin, in Paris next Monday, two of the sources said.
No comment was immediately available from the three defense ministries involved in the 100-billion-euro project to develop a system of crewed stealth fighters and packs of armed drones.
Pistorius told reporters last week that no new date for a trilateral ministerial meeting had been set, but he reiterated Germany’s call for a decision on the next phase by end-year.
Berlin has blamed French industry for blocking the program’s next phase by demanding sole leadership of the project, in a coded reference to Dassault Aviation.
Dassault, which handles France’s industrial participation in the project while Airbus represents Germany and Spain, has denied reports that it wants to control 80 percent of the project.
Pistorius said last week that he had discussed the topic with France’s Vautrin, who had stated her intention to continue with the project, which is widely known as FCAS, or its French acronym, SCAF.
Speaking ahead of a recent meeting with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, Vautrin said there was urgency to move ahead because France’s current Rafale warplanes would need to be replaced by 2040.
