International cooperation

UK, Dutch spy agencies curb intel flow to Austria over Russia ties: MP

British and Dutch spy agencies have heavily restricted the amount of intelligence they share with Austria, mainly because of ties between the ruling far-right Freedom Party and Russia, an Austrian opposition lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The Freedom Party (FPO) is the junior coalition partner to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservatives but it controls much of the country’s security apparatus. Its ministers head the Defence Ministry and the Interior Ministry, which in turn oversees Austria’s main intelligence agency, the BVT.

Ties between the FPO and President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, including a formal cooperation agreement, have long been of concern to Western security services, many of which see Russia as a dangerous adversary.

“Individual Western intelligence agencies are rejecting cooperation with the BVT,” left-wing lawmaker Peter Pilz, who has been strongly critical of FPO Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, told Reuters.