Austria's OMV fires senior exec for Russian espionage

Austrian energy and chemicals group OMV has fired a long-serving executive over suspicions of espionage for Russia, according to a report by Austria’s Profil magazine.

Following the firing, Vienna summoned a Russian diplomat in connection with the case, media reports and officials said on September 20.

Austrian counterintelligence had been monitoring the unnamed executive for several months following repeated contacts with a Russian embassy official believed by Western agencies to be affiliated with Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the FSB.

Authorities reportedly searched the executive’s residence and seized internal documents, though the extent of what was passed or compromised remains unclear.

OMV confirmed that it had terminated the employee’s contract with immediate effect and is co-operating fully with authorities, though it declined to provide further comment on individual employment matters.

Austria’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Russian embassy and requested that the diplomat waive immunity, warning that failing to do so could lead to a declaration of persona non grata.

Profil and other outlets report that the dismissed executive had been seconded to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), a 25% stakeholder in OMV, and had access to information on a planned merger of OMV’s Borealis unit with ADNOC’s polyolefins business. The executive is alleged to have briefed the Russian diplomat on developments in both companies during meetings in Vienna.

Some local media suggest the suspect may have held Austrian citizenship and had roots in Eastern Europe, though such details remain unconfirmed.

OMV has severed oil and gas ties with Russia in recent years, halting pipeline oil imports from the country in early 2023 when an EU embargo came into effect and terminating its gas supply deal with Russia’s Gazprom in December last year.

However, the company is understood to be continuing to purchase Russian-origin gas on the spot market.