Ukraine’s best known investigative journalist, Mykhailo Tkach, has revealed fresh details about an Austrian intelligence operation that led to his temporary arrest, along with his cameraman, Yaroslav Bondarenko, in Vienna on October 8. Both were detained on suspicion of espionage, an incident that has raised serious questions about press freedom, intelligence surveillance and the risks journalists face when investigating powerful figures, reported by News ORF.
In a video statement, Tkach described the irony of the incident, saying that those who allegedly wanted to obstruct his work had instead helped him uncover more information. “The irony of this story is that those who wanted to interfere with our work have actually helped us,” he said.
According to Tkach, the arrests were connected to his investigation into Ruslan Kravchenko, Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General, who had fled to Austria. He believes that people linked to Kravchenko may have misled Austrian authorities in an attempt to disrupt his reporting.
Both journalists have since been released, but the investigation is continuing. Two members of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Service (HUR), however, remain in pre-trial detention in Vienna.
Documents cited by Tkach suggest that both the journalists and the intelligence officers were interested in the same residential building in Vienna. The property, which has a concierge, is reportedly home to many Ukrainians living in exile.
Tkach also pointed to an Odesa-born businessman living in Austria, whom Ukrainian authorities accuse of economic crimes. The businessman is also alleged to have supported a media campaign against Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. According to the journalist, the businessman’s chauffeur noticed a rental car used by Tkach and Bondarenko following his vehicle and reported the incident to the authorities. That complaint eventually led to their arrest.
Tkach further revealed that Austria’s Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) had requested permission to monitor the journalists’ rental car using a specialised video surveillance system just one day before the arrests.
He criticised prosecutors for later claiming they had not known the two men were journalists, despite the surveillance measures and evidence-gathering activities.
Although the journalists are now free, the case leaves troubling questions about the boundaries between national security and press freedom, and whether investigative journalism became entangled in a wider political struggle.
