The Austrian group of oil, gas, and chemicals OMV has fired an executive director due to accusations of espionage in favor of Russia, and a Russian diplomat has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna following this case, as reported by Profil magazine, cited by Reuters.
Profil magazine wrote that the OMV employee drew attention through meetings with a Russian diplomat suspected by Western intelligence services of being an agent of the Russian internal intelligence service FSB.
According to the cited publication, the Austrian State Security and Intelligence Service had been monitoring the OMV executive director for several months, whose identity has not been disclosed.
OMV told Reuters that it terminated the employee's contract with immediate effect and that the group is fully cooperating with the competent authorities.
"For data protection reasons, we cannot provide further details regarding individual employment relationships," said an OMV spokesperson.
The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated to Reuters that it is aware of the accusations and ongoing criminal proceedings against a Russian diplomat.
The charge d'affaires of the Russian embassy in Vienna was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked to lift the diplomat's immunity.
"Otherwise, he would have been considered persona non grata and would have had to leave Austria," the ministry explained to Reuters.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comments.
According to Profil's report, the OMV employee had been temporarily seconded to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in the United Arab Emirates, which holds a 25% stake in OMV.
ADNOC and OMV are set to merge their polyolefin businesses Borouge and Borealis to create a chemical products group with an enterprise value of $60 billion.
The magazine wrote that the OMV employee had information about both companies and informed the Russian diplomat during meetings in Vienna.
ADNOC did not immediately respond to a request for comments.