Ex-Austrian counterintelligence officer arrested in Vienna for espionage suspicion involving Russia

Egisto O., formerly employed at Austria's now-disbanded Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT), has been under investigation since 2017 for building a network trading sensitive information. In 2022, he allegedly copied and sold mobile phone data of three high-ranking Austrian interior ministry officials to Russian intelligence, exploiting a phone repair after a canoe accident. The arrest was based on intelligence from the UK where Jan Marsalek, the former Wirecard executive under investigation for leading a Russian spy network in Britain, is also targeted. Egisto O. maintains ties with Marsalek and reportedly supplied him with information. The case has national security implications for Austria and broader EU security interests. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the National Security Council to address the matter, while experts warn the Russian objectives extend to both intelligence gathering and propaganda insertion within EU institutions.