Russian Disinformation Campaign Against Ukraine Uncovered in Austria

Austrian intelligence services have uncovered a large-scale Russian disinformation campaign aimed at manipulating public and political opinion to the detriment of Ukraine, Kurier reports.

The Austrian State Security and Intelligence Agency (DSN) has charged a Bulgarian citizen with espionage for Russia, as well as spreading disinformation and subversion. Her actions were aimed at manipulating public and political opinion in favour of Russia and to the detriment of Ukraine.  

‘The spread of false narratives, fake news and manipulative content undermines trust in our institutions and threatens social cohesion,’ said State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried.  

Austrian intelligence services believe that such actions could have influenced the electoral process, provoked political instability and endangered democratic society.  

‘We must not allow the formation of political and public opinion to be controlled from the outside. We Austrians prefer to form our own opinions,’ he added.  

The disclosure of the suspect's activities was made possible by a special DSN operation, which analysed data from devices seized from her during a search last December. The investigation showed that the campaign began a few weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and targeted German-speaking countries, including Austria.  

According to the Austrian intelligence services, the suspect was in contact with Russian intelligence and received instructions from it. She passed this information on to other agents in Germany and the UK, where Bulgarian citizens accused of collaborating with Russian intelligence services were recently on trial.

As The Gaze reported, in 2024, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that Austria needs to strengthen its security to prevent Russian infiltration. The day before, it became known that a former Austrian intelligence officer had been arrested on serious charges of spying for Russia.