The killers of Russian pilot Maxim Kuzmin, who hijacked a Mi-8 helicopter for Ukraine, received cash from Russian officials working in Vienna.
Sources in Western intelligence services told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about this.
WSJ journalists say that Vienna has actually turned into a new spy center for the Russian Federation in Europe — after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European capitals expelled 600 spies posing as diplomats.
Intelligence sources say that over the past two years, the number of Russian civil servants in Austria has grown from 300 to 400 people to more than 500. Most of them are diplomats and administrators, with almost half of them working as spies, according to Austrian intelligence services.
One of the reasons why Austria is turning into a hub for special services lies in the countryʼs legislation. Espionage is legal in Austria, as long as it is not directed against the country itself.
Russian spies based in Vienna are suspected of helping to recruit agents and finance Russian operations, such as the tracking of Western arms shipments to Kiev in Poland and the assassination of Kuzminov.
"Now we are becoming a burden to our neighbors because Russia is using us as a base of operations," said a senior Austrian intelligence official.
He added that Russia sends large amounts of cash to neighboring countries such as Lithuania by road. From there, Russian diplomats based in Austria move the cash across Europe, often in diplomatic mail that cannot be checked by the police.
In this regard, other EU countries are now considering the Czech proposal: to ban Russian diplomats from leaving the country where they work.
- In August 2023, Russian military pilot Maksym Kuzminov, who agreed to cooperate with Ukraine, flew his Mi-8 helicopter from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Kharkiv region.
- After the operation, Kuzminov received a large monetary reward — $500 000, and left for Spain. In February 2024, he was found murdered outside his home in the city of Villajojos in the province of Alicante.
- According to The New York Times, Kuzminov lived in Spain under a different name. According to preliminary data, two men participated in his murder: they waited for Kuzminov in the underground garage of the house for several hours, and then shot him six times and moved the body.
- NYT sources suggest that they were able to find Kuzminov thanks to his "fatal mistake" — he contacted his ex-girlfriend in Russia. In addition, in Spain he behaved carelessly — he visited bars popular among Russians and Ukrainians and littered with money.