Austria annulled the accreditation of two correspondents working for Russia's TASS news agency in April "due to a negative security assessment by the security authorities," the Interior Ministry said.
The Interior Ministry's statement, quoted by dpa on June 11, came a day after the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had canceled the accreditation of a correspondent for Austrian public broadcaster ORF, Maria Knips-Witting, and told her to leave the country in response to Austria's expulsion of Ivan Popov, a journalist for TASS, in late April.
Though the Russian Foreign Ministry only cited the expulsion of Popov, the Austrian Interior Ministry statement referred to two journalists for TASS, both expelled in April.
ORF said it could not understand Russia's move to cancel Knips-Witting's accreditation, while the Austrian Foreign Ministry called it "completely unjustified."
A report in March in the Vienna-based Falter weekly wrote about suspected Russian intelligence activities in the Austrian capital in a story that mentioned TASS.
In addition, the Austrian Interior Ministry's latest intelligence report says foreign intelligence services are active in the country under the cover of news agencies.
Knips-Witting joined a long list of journalists expelled by Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In August 2023, Eva Hartog, a Dutch journalist working for Politico -- a U.S. based politics-focused digital newspaper -- was denied a renewal of her Russian visa.
Russian authorities in March refused to extend a visa for Xavier Colas, a reporter for Spanish newspaper El Mundo and ordered him to leave Russia.
Moscow also has arrested and charged foreign journalists with crimes.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been under pretrial arrest since late March 2023 on charges of espionage that he, his employer, and U.S. officials reject as unfounded.
RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian citizen, has been in Russian custody since October on a charge of violating the so-called "foreign agent" law. She’s also been charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Kurmasheva and RFE/RL maintain her innocence.