In Austria, a former intelligence officer has been jailed who helped the FSB track down unwanted people in Europe – and suggested how to kill them and avoid capture.
A Russian spy has been detained in Europe again, this time in Austria. Egiste Ott is a former employee of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism (BVT), Austria’s main secret service. From the arrest warrant, obtained by the Financial Times, details about the cases in which Ott is involved are known.
Part of the Russian network
Ott has previously appeared in press investigations focused on Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of the financial startup Wirecard, who is suspected of participating in the operations of Russian intelligence services.
An Austrian citizen, Marsalek is closely associated with representatives of the Russian intelligence services. On their recommendation, for example, he bought a cement plant and a Russian PMC in Libya.
In the UK, he is considered to be the coordinator of a group of five Bulgarian citizens who for several years have been tracking people that Moscow does not like in Europe. Help in collecting information, such as the following from media investigations, was given to him by two former employees of the Austrian BVT – Martin Weiss, who headed the Second Department of the intelligence service, and later worked as an assistant by Marsalek, and Egisto Ott.
Ott’s operations
The FT lists several Russian intelligence operations in which Ott is said to have participated in the arrest warrant. This information was largely received from the British MI5, the newspaper notes.
So, the details of the operation against Hristo Grozev became known. In 2020, Grozev participated in a joint investigation by The Insider and Bellingcat into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny by FSB officers. After the investigation was released, Ott found out the journalist’s address and took some photos of the building where his apartment was located.
According to the FT, Marsalek used the information obtained to coordinate the work of a group of FSB agents who called themselves “seals.” This group broke into Grozev’s apartment and stole a laptop and flash drive from it. In 2023, intelligence agencies told an investigative journalist that Russia might be preparing an attempt on his life, and Grozev left Vienna.
In addition, Ott helped Marsalek bring the stolen secret SINA laptop to Moscow. These computers, which the FT compares to the legendary German Enigma, are equipped with advanced cryptographic tools and are used by Western authorities to transmit classified information. As follows from Marsalek’s messages, the laptop ended up in the Lubyanka, that is, in the FSB. It is not known how the device was obtained.
Ott also provided Russian intelligence services with data from the phones of three senior members of the Austrian Ministry of Internal Affairs. These phones fell into the Danube during a boat trip. These were given to Ott so he could see if data could be recovered from them; Ott succeeds – and he gives the clones of the recessed phones to Marsalek. The latter, in communication with an accomplice, said that the information was “transferred to Moscow for further analysis.”
Unique information
The FT claims that Egisto Ott helped track down people of interest to the Russian authorities – including dissidents and the Russian intelligence services’ own agents. Ott used his security clearance to request sensitive information from police forces across Europe, including the UK and Italy. He also has access to the Schengen information system, where he can track who crossed the border and when.
Finally, Ott worked on mistakes for the Russian special services – after the alleged FSB officer Vadim Krasikov was imprisoned in Berlin. Krasikov shot and killed former Chechen field commander, Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili; he was detained near the crime scene and sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to the FT, Egisto Ott used his knowledge of police work and how European services exchange information to suggest strategies for Russian agents to help them avoid capture after future murders in Europe.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.