Two Ukrainians alleged to be military intelligence personnel remanded in custody in Vienna

Khrystyna Bondarieva , Anastasia Prots - 9 October, 17:51

Stock Photo: Bodo Schackow/Picture Alliance via Getty Images

Der Standard has reported that two men suspected of working for Ukraine's military intelligence were arrested in Vienna on Monday 5 October and remanded in custody on Wednesday 7 October on suspicion of espionage. The report comes alongside news of the separate detention of Mykhailo Tkach, head of Ukrainska Pravda's investigative journalism department, and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko on Thursday 8 October.

Source: European Pravda, citing Austrian media outlet Der Standard

Details: Two alleged Ukrainian military intelligence personnel were detained in Vienna on Monday. On Wednesday, the regional court ruled to remand the suspects in custody.

Court spokesperson Christina Salzborn said on Friday that the grounds for remanding the two men in custody were the risk of further offending, tampering with evidence and absconding. The remand order is initially valid until 21 October.

Both men deny the charges brought against them.

Der Standard said it is unknown how long the two Ukrainians suspected of espionage have been in Austria and how law enforcement officers tracked them down. This is the subject of the ongoing investigations, the authorities stated on Friday afternoon.

The investigation is being conducted by Austria's Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN). The suspected offence is espionage on behalf of a foreign intelligence service to the detriment of Austria, under Section 256 of the Austrian Criminal Code.

Background:

On 8 October, it was reported that Tkach had been detained in Vienna while carrying out an assignment from the editorial team involving tracking down the fugitive former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko.
According to the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, Tkach was detained on suspicion of espionage, which was subsequently unconfirmed.
On 9 October, Ukrainska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevğil Musaieva reported that Tkach had been released after being detained in Vienna, but the editorial team was unable to contact him, and that cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko was injured during the detention.

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