Austria's Intelligence chief warns country might face riots over energy crisis in future

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the director of Austria's security and intelligence service (DSN), warned that riots might erupt in the country owing to the probable energy crisis in the coming days. As of now, we do not see any riots on the streets. But the hatred on the Internet has clearly increased. Every crisis means that despair for some people can first turn into verbal actions and then even into violence," he noted, Sputnik reported citing Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung. His remarks came while responding to a query whether the security agency envisages riots in the near future. 

According to Austria's counterintelligence service, a few people from the country have also participated in the ongoing war in Ukraine. "The counterintelligence is aware of a small double digits number of citizens involved in Ukraine's war against Russia." the DSN chief claimed. Notably, several European countries are reeling under the energy crisis due to the war in Eastern Europe. Earlier in July, Russia's energy giant Gazprom cut the supply of gas to Austria's oil and gas company, OMV, citing maintenance work. OMV spokesperson Andreas Rinofner said that the company received around 70% less than it had claimed.

Gazprom reduced gas supply to Europe citing maintenance work

Since mid-June, Gazprom has shipped around half of the gas that was required. According to Rinofner, the ability to store gas in storage tanks is dependent on both regular use and additional market purchases. Notably, the supply of gas has been reduced owing to the annual maintenance work on a major gas pipeline from Russia to western Europe. In mid-June, Gazprom reduced gas supplies via Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, citing technical engine issues and delays in repair works. 

Austria claims to have stopped importing & refining oil from Russia

Earlier, OMV claimed Austria has stopped importing and refining oil from Russia since March. According to the company, OMV's purchases of Russian oil have always been minimal since the onset of the war. However, Austria is still dependent on Russian natural gas, which exported almost  80% of its natural gas from Moscow. Meanwhile, the Austrian statistical office reported that Russian imports accounted for only 7.8% of the 596,000 tonnes of oil supplied to Vienna in 2021. Kazakhstan has been Austria's most important oil supplier for many years, which supplies 38.9% of oil to the country, TASS reported. 

Image: AP