Austria has ordered four Russian diplomats to leave the country after its security authorities identified activities they considered incompatible with diplomatic status, reopening a sensitive dispute over intelligence activity in Vienna. Three of the diplomats were assigned to Russia’s embassy, while the fourth worked at Moscow’s mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Austria’s Foreign Ministry declared the four officials persona non grata and instructed them to depart. The ministry did not publicly detail the conduct attributed to each diplomat. Russia’s embassy in Vienna condemned the decision and said Moscow would respond, according to reports carried by multiple news organisations.
The move comes as Vienna remains a major centre for international diplomacy, hosting the OSCE and United Nations agencies alongside a large diplomatic community. That concentration has long made the Austrian capital a focus of counter-intelligence concerns. Austria has expelled Russian diplomatic staff on previous occasions; the latest decision brings the number expelled by Vienna since 2020 to 18, according to reporting on the announcement.
Austria is militarily neutral but has supported Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion. The latest expulsions add to a wider pattern of European governments scrutinising Russian diplomatic activity. The publicly available announcement does not establish the precise nature of the alleged activities, and the Russian government has rejected the expulsions as politically hostile.
