to Central Europe

medium is published by an obscure non-profit organization in Linz and the main person behind it
is Stefan Magnet, who used to be involved in PR work for the Upper Austrian branch of FPÖ.
These projects seem to have some success among the quite wide anti-American oriented audience
in Austria and Germany, as well as bloggers and Internet activists who believe the Russian
explanation of the events in Ukraine. It was this group of people that commented on many articles
about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the pages of mainstream Austrian media.
“Contra Magazin” has been featured at least nine times in the major and state owned Russian news
agency RIA Novosti, 80 while “Info Direkt” even made it to Russian state TV. 81 The first major
reference to “Info-DIREKT,” a controlled media itself, looks like a classical spin operation, or active
measure by the Kremlin. All these media outlets analogously have their agenda coordinated by the
Kremlin and the so-called “bumazhka,” 82 sent from the administration of the Russian president to
the editors of leading TV stations. Uwe Sailer, a leading observer of the extreme right in Linz, the
hometown of “Info-Direkt,” speculates about possible Russian funding for “Info-Direkt.” Overall,
however, “reactionary values” so far played a very marginal role for “Info-Direkt.”
Institutions
The Austria-Russian Friendship Organization
The “Österreichisch-Russische Freundschaftsgesellschaft” (ORFG) (Austro-Russian friendship
society), which went through a visible evolution, especially since last year, is the most prominent
Austro-Russian organization in Austria. A new non-profit organization (Verein) was founded in
May 2000, initially with Raiffeisen International-CEO Herbert Stepic as its president, at least
according to media reports, 83 who was followed in June 2003 by Ernst Strasser, who served as the
Minister of Interior Affairs between 2000 and 2004, and, after a political break, became a member
of the European Parliament. Under the leadership of the conservative politician Strasser, ORFG
kept a low profile and was mainly considered as a business club, used specifically by Austrian
companies to promote their commercial interests in Russia. After British journalists revealed that
Strasser had been involved corruption in March 2011, the MEP stepped down from all his
functions, including his ORFG presidency, and was finally sentenced in 2014 to three years in
prison.
Under Strasser's successor, Ludwig Scharinger, a former CEO of the Raiffeisenbank's Upper
Austrian branch, the situation changed. Starting with the conflict between Ukraine and Russia,
followed by European Union mandated sanctions against the latter, the organization stopped
doing non-public business lobbying. ORFG got much more visible during 2014 and 2015, as one
the most vocal organizations in Austria to defend Russia and to call for an end of Western sanctions
against the country. Ludwig Scharinger and other members of his organization argued that these
measures are harming for Austrian companies. Scharinger himself, quite unexpectedly, used harsh
anti-American rhetoric in public appearances. His successor Richard Schenz, a former CEO of
Austrian gas and oil company OMV and vice-president of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber,
at the beginning of his presidency maintained a lower profile.
80 According to a source inside “RIA Novosti” these special articles are not written by the core staff of this Russian
news agency itself or by correspondents in Austria or Germany, but by former collaborators of “Russia Today” who are
now responsible for the homepage of “RIA Novosti”. Of course, the outside audience does not see this internal
difference.
81 “Info-DIREKT im russischen TV“, Info-DIREKT Nr. 5 (Oktobre 2015), p. 27
82 Literally “small paper”: Written recommendations from the administration of the Russian president that are sent at
least on a weekly basis to the main TV stations I Russian. They propose would kind of topics should be mentioned in
the news and also in what way they should be mentioned.
83 “Strasser neuer Präsident der Österreichisch-Russischen Gesellschaft”, Austria Press Agency, 17.6.2003
25