Yesterday’s Observer published John R. Schindler story “A Kremlin Spy Mystery in Vienna Shakes the World Capital of Espionage”. It seems that for three decades an Austrian army colonel spied for Russia’s GRU, and the Austrians caught him only because a Western ally tipped them off. (GRU is the Russian spy agency that interferes with US elections, among other things.) Schindler concludes:
Vienna seems to be acquiescing to Moscow’s take on the scandal, even though it highlights Putin’s essentially colonial relationship with Austria.... Today Colonel M. was released from custody, pending trial.... What side Austria is on in Cold War 2.0 is increasingly clear, as Western intelligence agencies have been warning since the Kurz coalition government took power nearly one year ago.
In Austria the Kurz government has allied the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The FPÖ was founded by a former Nazi SS officer and is now led by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was active in neo-Nazi circles in his youth. In 2016 the FPÖ signed a cooperation pact with United Russia, Putin’s party and it is staunchly pro-Russia; for example, it opposes economic sanctions on Russia. As part of last year’s coalition deal the FPÖ has control of six ministries, including defense, foreign affairs, and the interior. Its relations with Putin’s Russia continue to be warm: Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl danced with Putin at her wedding earlier this year.
In Monday’s Quartz, Justin Rohrlich (who interviewed ex-spy Jan Neumann) wrote:
It is highly unlikely that the now-exposed colonel is the only double agent inside the Austrian military, insisted Neumann … adding that the Austria case also illustrates the near-certainty that an even higher number of covert Russian operatives continue to go undetected inside the United States.
And has the Trump administration responded to this? Nope. There’s nothing. Zilch. Silent acquiescence, that’s all. Austria is sliding toward the other side of what may be Iron Curtain 2.0, Russian agents almost surely continue to operate covertly in the US, and Trump’s low-energy response is to continue to kowtow to Putin.