The UP journalist Tkach was detained in Austria because he was spotted in a place being watched by two other espionage suspects

The head of the investigative journalism department of Ukrainska Pravda (UP) Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko were detained in Austria after they were spotted in a place where two men suspected of espionage were also following them.

Reuters writes about this.

The Vienna prosecutorʼs office reiterated that the reason was not his professional activities. They said that the suspicion was based on information from witnesses and the fact that the suspects were monitoring the area at the same time as Tkach.

On October 5, two alleged Ukrainian military intelligence officers were also detained in Austria. On October 7, they were remanded in custody until October 21. Both men deny the charges against them. They are suspected of working for a foreign intelligence service to the detriment of Austria (§ 256 of the Criminal Code).

What preceded

On October 8, the editorial office of the “Ukrainian News Agency” stated that Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko were illegally detained in Vienna while they were carrying out an editorial assignment related to the search for former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

Tkach was released on October 9. The editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda Sevgil Musayeva stated that Tkach was held in Vienna for over 12 hours, but that morning there was no contact with him.

Operator Yaroslav Bondarenko wrote that he received cuts on his right hand, and glass fragments were stuck under his eye. During the operation, the operator was refused to be handcuffed.

The Vienna prosecutorʼs office later said that Tkach and Bondarenko were detained on suspicion of espionage, but this was not confirmed.

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