Austria explains detention of journalist Tkach and three other Ukrainians as part of espionage case

Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko were detained in Vienna on Oct. 8 in an espionage case. Two other Ukrainians were also detained, according to the local newspaper Kleine Zeitung.

According to Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, law enforcement detained four Ukrainians in all, two of them at the start of the week. They remain in custody.

Tkach and Bondarenko were detained Oct. 8. UP's cameraman is still in custody, and the journalist has been released, Karner stated.

"In the course of other investigations, suspicion arose regarding two more people, but it was not confirmed," said Nina Bussek, spokeswoman for the Vienna prosecutor's office, commenting on the detention of UP staff.

She clarified that one of these people has already been released (apparently Tkach) and that questioning of the other is still underway.

Detention of Mykhailo Tkach in Vienna

On Oct. 8, UP reported the detention in Austria of Mykhailo Tkach, who together with colleague Yaroslav Bondarenko was carrying out an editorial assignment related to Ruslan Kravchenko, Ukraine's former prosecutor general.

UP wrote that the whereabouts of Tkach and Bondarenko were unknown and that they were unreachable.

On Oct. 9, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said Austrian law enforcement had already released Tkach from custody. According to UP, there is still no with him. Cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko was injured during the detention and was in a hospital, UP editor-in-chief Sevgil Musaieva said.

If you find an error in the text, select it with the mouse and click Ctrl + Enter