Vienna – espionage center of the world
Österreich blieb Stützpunkt
Mit dem Ende des Kalten Krieges veränderte sich die Agentenszene. Dennoch blieb Österreich Stützpunkt. “Das System hat sich verändert”, sagt der Grüne Peter Pilz. “Heute dürfen die USA ungestört in Europa operieren. Russland und der Iran schicken gar keine Leute nach Wien, weil sie die Informationen über unser Abwehramt kriegen.” Dass Österreichs Geheimdienstwesen in drei Einrichtungen aufgesplittert ist, hält Pilz für “eine Absurdität”. Der Rest der Welt sehe Wien als das, was es immer schon war: “Eine gute Hintertür für Informationen aus Europa.” Kleine Zeitung
Highest density of spies in the world
Vienna, whose geographical position makes it a point of contact between East and West and North and South, home to thousands of diplomats and many prominent international groups, stays also a harbor of secret service activity.
“Austria is still a favorite place for agents,” said Siegfried Beer, director of the Austrian Centre for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (ACIPSS), at the University of Graz. “They’re frequently known to the authorities but rarely hindered. Everything is handled courteously and diplomatically. There’s a long tradition in that.”
For Peter Pilz, defense expert for the opposition Green party, “some regimes such as Russia and Iran enjoy a freedom to do as they please in Vienna that they would never enjoy elsewhere”
In all, at least 17 000 diplomats are based in Vienna, equivalent to about 1% of the city’s population, according to France Press Agency. “Around half of them have links to the secret services,” said Beer.
Peter Pilz asserted that Vienna is also “a hub where it’s very easy to buy arms or hide or wash money”.
However, the advent in recent years of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Austria, including about 20 000 Chechens, is providing new impetus for secret service activity. Beer said: “Embassies such as the Russian or the Chinese embassies are growing rapidly.”
According to some estimates, Russia has at least 500 secret service agents in Vienna, many of whom monitor Chechen exiles.
Austria has admitted to working with Russia’s FSB intelligence service — the former KGB — in the fight against terrorism.
Source: AFP
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