Former Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl recalls her past in Austria in her new home in Lebanon. According to a media report, an investigation into a network of agents near the Kremlin is currently being investigated in Austria. In concrete terms, it also concerns the supposed creation of a new secret service parallel to the existing one. Kneissl is said to have been involved in the events.
As Germany’s Südwestrundfunk reports, a group led by then-Secretary General of Kneissl at the Foreign Ministry, Johannes Peterlik, is said to have dealt with the idea in 2018. Peterlik would lead the ‘new security department’ of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ex-BAT officer Egisto Ott also reportedly played a key role.
Faced with the allegations, his lawyer explained to the German broadcaster: “In general, one has to ask what criminal justice standards or internal guidelines are being violated, or whether it might be objectionable if improvements and the associated creation of a new department are made. Thoughts are being made and concepts are drawn up as a precaution.” Ott is under investigation for espionage for Russia and the sale of state secrets.
Was the ex-minister constantly informed?
The FPÖ, then a government partner of the ÖVP, apparently wanted to expand its influence over the secret services. Kneissl denied to the Washington Post months ago that he was aware of such plans. But now, according to SWR, investigation files show that the then non-party minister was very well aware of the progress.
There may also have been regular contact with Bernd Schmidbauer, the former coordinator of the German secret service under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Kneissl is said to have attended a meeting. In any case, the new department should become “a secret service on the German model”, it says. Kneissl has not yet responded to questions from SWR.
Source: Krone
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