The 63-year-old faces a slew of charges, including suspected abuse of office, corruption and espionage to the detriment of Austria. Through his actions, Ott risked inflicting “serious damage” on Austria’s reputation among friendly intelligence services, according to the indictment seen by AFP. Fugitive Marsalek is wanted on fraud charges and is suspected of working for Russia’s intelligence services (FSB). ‘Assassination manual’To gather information, Ott allegedly made use of “European databases” and sent “requests for assistance” to Italy and Britain, which resulted in those countries “unknowingly acting in the interest” of Moscow, prosecutors say. Ott was suspended from his post at Austria’s intelligence services in 2017 amid allegations of spying and briefly arrested in 2021 on these accusations.

Source: Bangkok Post January 22, 2026 08:06 UTC