Austria expels four Russian diplomats

VIENNA — Austria’s government said Thursday that it has ordered four Russian diplomats based in Vienna, including two at Moscow’s mission to U.N. agencies in the city, to leave the country.

The Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that two diplomats at the Russian Embassy had “engaged in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status” and two at the permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna “committed acts incompatible with the Headquarters Agreement.” It didn’t elaborate.

The diplomats were given a week to leave Austria. Western European nations and Russia have expelled each others’ diplomats on several occasions since Moscow’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine started nearly a year ago.

Austria, a European Union member that has a policy of military neutrality, was initially hesitant to take such action but expelled four Russian diplomats in April after pressure from the public and EU partners.

An Austrian official with knowledge of the matter said that the diplomats currently being expelled are “higher ranking” than the ones who were sent back in April and had been involved in “technical intelligence gathering to the detriment of Austrian national security.”