2024-03-26 04:12:30
Vienna police officers will no longer accept gifts from Russia. A spokesman for the Vienna State Police Directorate told the APA this upon request after several police officers were seen leaving the Russian embassy with gift bags. This was not a misconduct, but it left an undesirable impression, said the spokesman. Such attention should therefore be politely but firmly rejected.
The officers were on duty during the Russian presidential election on March 17 to ensure security around voting in the embassy. After the last voter left the embassy shortly after 10 p.m., at least six employees from the State Office for State Security and Extremism (LSE) and the police with service dogs followed. At least three carried gift bags with the Russian national coat of arms. They did not want to comment on the spot whether it was customary to accept gifts at the Russian embassy.
The operation took place after Austria declared two Russian diplomats persona non grata. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on this occasion that bilateral relations between Vienna and Moscow could not actually get any worse. Official Russia is apparently satisfied with the work of the Austrian police. Ambassador Dmitri Ljubinski praised the cooperation with the Interior Ministry in two of three video messages on election Sunday.
Uniformed police officers and LSE members in civilian clothes were not only on duty in front of the building, but also frequently went in and out of the embassy. This was justified by a police officer with the possibility of using the toilet in the building. Apparently the police officers were also fed and given gifts by the Russians.
In response to an APA request, the Vienna State Police Directorate confirmed receipt of gifts. “After the operation ended, officers received paper bags containing items of low value,” a spokesman said. Although this does not constitute misconduct under the Civil Service Act, it leaves an undesirable impression that does not do justice to the professional approach of the officers on site. The officials were made aware of this and encouraged to refuse. The latter corresponds to internal recommendations: “Employees are always on the ‘safe side’ if a gift is politely but firmly rejected,” says the Interior Ministry’s official code of conduct.
The Vienna police spokesman justified the temporary entry into the building by saying that the officers were there on March 17, among other things, to protect the diplomatic facility and that contact had been made with employees of the embassy. He left the APA’s question about the specific contents of the bags unanswered. The spokesman for the Russian embassy also declined to comment.
A positioning of the police that was perceived as being too Russia-friendly had recently caused discussions in the summer of 2022: after experts from an association close to the Russian embassy were allowed to lecture on Ukrainian nationalism at a Vienna police training event, the Ukrainian ambassador in Vienna, Wassyl Chymynez, had heated comments at the time criticized. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) then explained that there were no prerequisites for official measures, but announced “a higher level of sensitivity and political awareness” in the selection of speakers in the future.
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