Former intelligence official Egisto Ott goes on trial in Vienna on Thursday, accused of spying for Russia in what is being dubbed Austria’s biggest spy trial in years.

Egisto Ott, 63, is charged with having handed over information to Russian intelligence officers and to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive executive of collapsed German payments firm Wirecard.

Ott denies the charges.

Jan Marsalek, who is also an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German police for alleged fraud and is currently believed to be in Moscow, having fled via Austria in 2020.

The subject of an Interpol Red Notice, he is alleged to be an intelligence asset for the FSB, Russia’s secretive security service.

The spy scandal has revived fears that Austria remains a hotbed of Russian espionage activity and observers will also be watching closely for details that could emerge about Marsalek.

Prosecutors in Vienna say Egisto Ott “abused his authority” as an Austrian intelligence official by collecting large amounts of personal data, such as locations, vehicle registration numbers, or travel movements.

They say he did this between 2015 and 2020 without authorisation, often using national and international police databases.

Prosecutors also charge him with supporting “a secret intelligence service of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the Republic of Austria” by collecting secret facts and a large amount of personal data from police databases between 2017 and 2021.

They say Egisto Ott gave this information to Jan Marsalek and unknown representatives of the Russian intelligence service, and received payment in return.

In 2022, prosecutors say, Jan Marsalek commissioned him to obtain a laptop containing secret electronic security hardware used by EU states for secure electronic communication. The laptop, they say, was handed over to the Russian intelligence service.

He is also suspected, reports say, of having passed phone data from senior Austrian interior ministry officials to Russia.

Austria’s Standard newspaper says Egisto Ott apparently obtained the work phones after they accidentally fell into the River Danube on an interior ministry boating trip.

He is alleged to have copied their contents and passed them on to Jan Marsalek, and Moscow.

Egisto Ott is charged with abuse of authority and corruption and espionage against Austria and faces up to five years in prison, if he is found guilty.

When he was arrested in 2024, Austria’s then Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, described the case as “a threat to democracy and our country’s national security”.

In a separate development, prosecutors in the Austrian town of Wiener Neustadt have told the BBC that a former MP, Thomas Schellenbacher, has been charged with helping Marsalek to escape following the collapse of the Wirecard company in 2020, when it emerged that €1.9bn was missing from its accounts.

Schellenbacher is alleged to have helped Jan Marsalek fly to Belarus, from Bad Vöslau in Austria, in June 2020.

Schellenbacher was an MP for the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), which has been accused by Austria’s Green Party, now in opposition, of enabling Russian espionage, of acting as “an extension of Russia’s arm” in Austria.

The FPÖ and its leader Herbert Kickl have denied the allegations – and have not faced any legal action in connection with any of them.

Marsalek, who was the Wirecard’s Chief Operating Officer, has since been charged with fraud and embezzlement, suspected of having inflated company’s balance sheet total and sales volume.

He is also believed to have been the controller of a group of Bulgarians who were convicted in London in 2025, of spying for Russia.

Messages from that trial reveal Marsalek has had plastic surgery to alter his appearance as well as details of his life as a fugitive.

“I’m off to bed. Had another cosmetic surgery, trying to look differently, and I am dead tired and my head hurts,” he wrote to one of the Bulgarians, Roussev, on Telegram in February 2022.

In another, dated 11 May 2021, Roussev congratulated Marsalek for learning Russian.

“Well I am trying to improve my skills on a few fronts. Languages is one of them,” the Austrian responded.

“In my new role as an international fugitive I must outperform James Bond.”

President Donald Trump says the US has a potential deal on Greenland as he dropped plans to impose tariffs on European countries that had opposed his ambitions for America to acquire the island.

On social media, Trump said a “very productive meeting” with Nato’s leader had led to the “framework” of a potential agreement covering Greenland and the Arctic.

“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all Nato Nations,” Trump posted.

Earlier on Wednesday, he told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he would not use military force but wanted immediate talks to secure ownership of the territory, which he says is vital for US national security.

On Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said: “We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”

Further information would be made available “as discussions progress”, he added.

The US president added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would “report directly” to him as negotiations continued.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a statement: “The day is ending on a better note than it began.”

He added: “Now, let’s sit down and find out how we can address the American security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”

In the hours that followed, some details trickled out.

Trump told CNBC the possible deal would last “forever” and could involve mineral rights and the planned Golden Dome missile defence system, which is envisioned as a shield of interceptors and detectors spanning land, sea and space to protect the US from long-range missile strikes.

Along with Greenland’s position on the globe, the Trump administration has spoken about its vast – and largely untapped – reserves of rare earth minerals, many of which are crucial for technologies including mobile phones and electric vehicles.

After the post, Trump told CNN in Davos that the deal framework for Greenland was “pretty far along” and “gets us everything we needed to get”, especially “real national security and international security”.

He did not say if the framework included American ownership of Greenland, though.

Trump had previously dismissed the idea of leasing Greenland, saying that “you defend ownership. You don’t defend leases.”

According to the New York Times, the plan would grant the US ownership of small pockets of the territory’s land, where American military bases could be built.

Officials who attended a Nato meeting about the matter on Wednesday told the newspaper the suggested arrangement would be similar to UK bases on Cyprus, which are part of British Overseas Territories.

Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US can bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland. It already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in the north-western tip of the territory.

Nato spokeswoman Allison Hart said in a statement that during the meeting Trump and Rutte had “discussed the critical significance of security in the Arctic region to all Allies, including the United States”.

“Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland,” she also said.

Trump had said he was planning to place a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent from the UK to the US from 1 February, increasing to 25% from 1 June, until a deal was reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark.

The same would apply to goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of which are members of Nato, the defence alliance founded in 1949.

In a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said he was “seeking immediate negotiations” to acquire Greenland, but insisted the US would not take the territory with force.

“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive force. We’d be unstoppable, but we won’t do that,” Trump said. “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”

He also urged world leaders to allow the US to take control of Greenland from Denmark, saying: “You can say yes and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember.”

But Trump suggested he would not be receptive to any agreements on the US use of Greenland that fall short of full ownership.

In his own speech at Davos a day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron criticised Trump’s previous threat of tariffs, saying an “endless accumulation of new tariffs” from the US was “fundamentally unacceptable”.

Macron was among those urging the EU to consider retaliatory options against new US levies.

In his speech, Trump took aim at Macron, saying France had been “screwing” the US for decades.

The US president also took a swipe at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who urged “middle powers” such as Australia, Argentina and his own country to band together when he spoke at Davos a day earlier.

In response, the US president accused Carney of being ungrateful to the US.

“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”