Russian influence operations in Austria
Russian espionage and influence operations in Austria date back to the Soviet era, when Austria was a favorite country for Soviet activities. The SVR is suspected of maintaining its largest European station in Vienna.
Russian intelligence center
According to the report Gazprom's European Web, Austria has long been a favorite country for Soviet (now Russian) commerce, banking, and espionage activities. Austrian police sources have stated that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) maintains its largest European station in Vienna.[1] In 2001, shortly before Putin’s arrival to a meeting in Vienna, the Russian ambassador to Austria stated that any attempt by Austria to join NATO would be seen as a violation of international law.[1]
The fact that Austrian financial companies are not required to disclose owners, combined with a tendency to turn a blind eye to suspicious transfers, has helped to make Austria a center for Russian financial operations.[2]
In 2003 SVR agent Vladimir Alganov was caught in Vienna discussing bribes Russian spies had paid to top Polish officials.[3][4][5]
European energy dependence on Russia
Russia is suspected of using its energy sector enterprises in its influence operations.
When Putin came to power, Vienna became the hub for numerous Gazprom-connected companies, such as GWH, Centrex Group, CentraGas Holding, Zangas, Centrex Energy Italian Gas Holding AG, Central Energy Italian Gas Holding AG, GroupDF, Ostchem Holdings, Deg Handles, Ukrinvest Holdings, and Citel AG. According to the report Gazprom's European Web, they have "not only strengthened Gazprom’s position in Austria’s domestic gas distribution network but have also provided the Russian gas monopoly closer entrée to government circles".[1]
Examples of affiliated organizations and people
Some of the organizations and people connected to Russian intelligence services, Gazprom and other state-affiliated entities have been documented in the literature. Examples include:
- Vienna Capital Partners (VCP) - VCP has been suspected by various investigators, including the European Union's criminal intelligence agency Europol and Hungary, of acting as a Gazprom middleman.
- Raiffeisen Zentralbank - Has been suspected of Russian money laundering.[6][7][8] The company also represents RosUkrEnergo, an opaque company related to Gazprom.[9][10]
- ARosgas Holding AG (100%) - Gas marketing[11]
- Centrex Europe Energy & Gas AG (100%) - owned through Gazprombank[12]
- GHW (50%)- a joint venture with OMV for gas trading
- Sibneft Oil Trade GmbH (100%) - an oil trading company owned through Gazprom Neft[11]
- ZGG-Zarubezhgazneftechim Trading GmbH (100%) - a gas trading company[11]
- ZMB Gasspeicher Holding GmbH (66.67%) - 33.3% owned by Centrex Europe Energy & Gas AG[13]
- Andrey Akimov - Suspected former KGB agent in Vienna. He was involved in Imag GmbH (later renamed Dehel GmbH) in Vienna, an opaque company which had reportedly "bafflingly convoluted company structures and accounting problems".[14]
- Alexander Medvedev - Suspected former KGB agent in Vienna. Medvedev has played a key role in Gazprom's opaque intermediaries such as RosUkrEnergo, Centrex Group, Gazprom Germania, and YugoRosGaz.[15]
- Robert Nowikovsky - Nowikovsky is an Austrian businessman. According to the Stern magazine, Nowikovsky and Martin Schlaff have been investigated for illegal payment of 4.5 million dollars to the sons of Ariel Sharon in 2002 when Sharon was Israeli Prime Minister.[16] Nowikovsky is an alleged close friend of Gazprombank Chairman Andrei Akimov, an alleged former KGB agent in Vienna.[17] He is registered owner of RN Privatstiftung, a private foundation. RN Privatstiftung is one of the two owners of Centrex Europe Energy & Gas AG (CEEGAG). CEEGAG was formerly known as Jurimex Energy and Gas Development AG, a company created in 2003 by Robert Nowikovsky, Swiss lawyer Hans Baumgartner, and Peter Hanseler and registered in Zug, Switzerland.[17][18] The Stern has reported that CEEGAG is the most widespread Gazprom-affiliated network of companies.[16] He is one of the former directors of Central Energy Italian Gas Holding, another Gazprom-related company, which Italian parliament suspected of benefiting a person close to Silvio Berlusconi.[17]
- Martin Schlaff - The billionaire's close confidant Michael Hason holds a number of positions in the Centrex Group, which is believed to be a Gazprom company.[19] Schlaff also owns a company in Cyprus which is registered in the same address as Centrex Holding and shares some directors with Gazprom companies.[19] Schlaff, Centrex, and Robert Nowikovsky share the same press officer in Vienna.[19] German investigations concluded in 1998 that Schlaff had "financially supported the creation of new companies by former Stasi employees" in spring 1990. The Stern magazine has noted that Vladimir Putin may have met Schlaff when Putin worked in KGB's Dresden base.[19]
Assassinations
In 2007 Natalia Morar, an investigative journalist with Moldovan citizenship, published her report about money laundering, which included Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank in the New Times. She was banned from Russia and she says she received the following note from the FSB: "There is no need to end your life with an article — someone might simply wait for you at the entrance to your apartment building, and they will not find a killer afterward."[6][7][8]
Prominent Chechen activist Umar Israilov, who had filed a complaint to the European court of human rights and was just about to tell his story to the New York Times, was assassinated in Vienna in 2009. Austrian police and others suspected the Kremlin. Oleg Orlov, the director of Moscow's Memorial Human Rights Centre, said "We are deeply alarmed about what appears to be another politically motivated killing of a critic of high-level Russian government officials. ... In light of the brutal retaliation inflicted on those who speak out on abuses in Chechnya, Israilov's actions were particularly courageous, and his killers and those behind them need to be promptly held to account". Related to the case might be the murders of human rights lawyer Anastasia Baburova and journalist Anastasia Baburova - both were interested in Israilov's case.[20][21]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gazprom's European Web. Roman Kupchinsky. Published in February 2009. p. 17
- ↑ Gazprom's European Web. Roman Kupchinsky. Published in February 2009. p. 18
- ↑ Barnett, Neil (8 January 2006). "From Poland to Hungary, Gazprom takes stealth route to domination". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ↑ "Oil scandal rocks Polish leadership - Some fear Moscow gaining influence". The Boston Globe. 2004-12-05. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ↑ The cultural politics of military alliances and energy security Archived 2007-03-17 at the Wayback Machine. Michael D. Kennedy. September 23, 2005.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Who Whacked Kozlov? An update on last year’s Central Bank murder mystery. The Exile
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Robert Amsterdam: Raiffeisen's Ties to Murder and Corruption in Russia Archived 2010-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, Raiffeisen's Russia Scandal - Part I Archived 2008-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Raiffeisen's Russia Scandal - Part II Archived 2010-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, Moscow Times Digs Deeper on Diskont, Raiffeisen, and the Kozlov Murder Archived 2012-09-12 at Archive.today
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Moscow’s New Rules Archived 2012-09-18 at Archive.today. By Adam Federman, Columbia Journalism Review, February 1, 2010
- ↑ Ukraine Gas Deal Draws Attention to Secretive Importer. New York Times
- ↑ Ukraine: Criminal Cases Filed Over Gas Schemes. Radio Free Europe. July 05, 2005
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Andreas Heinrich, Koszalin (2008-02-05). "Gazprom's Expansion Strategy in Europe and the Liberalization of EU Energy Markets" (PDF). Russian Analytical Digest. Research Centre for East European Studies (34 Russian Business Expansion). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
- ↑ "Gazprom and Austrian companies extend contracts for Russian natural gas supply to Austria till 2027". Gazprom. 2006-09-29. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
- ↑ "ZMB Gasspeicherholding GmbH". ZMB GmbH. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
- ↑ Financial Review: Liechtenstein v. Gazprom, Stern magazine, October 10, 2007 (English translation, original German article here)
- ↑ Bulgaria's "Overgas," a Russian Spy in Canada, and Gazprom Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 30 February 13, 2009
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Gazprom’s European Web[permanent dead link]. The Jamestown Foundation. February 2009
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Berlusconi, Centrex, Hexagon 1 and 2 and Gazprom. Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 5 Issue: 228. December 1, 2008
- ↑ The Shadowy Side of Gazprom’s Expanding Central European Gas Hub. Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 5 Issue: 217. November 12, 2008
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 A tale of gazoviki, money and greed Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine. Stern magazine, September 13, 2007
- ↑ Austrian police investigate Kremlin link to Chechen dissident's murder. The Guardian. 15 January 2009
- ↑ New York Times Provides Fresh Details of Accusations against Kadyrov. Publication: North Caucasus Analysis Volume: 10 Issue: 5. February 6, 2009
See also
This article "Russian influence operations in Austria" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Russian influence operations in Austria. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
