A senior Austrian military officer believed to have spied for Moscow for decades has been arrested, a spokesman for Salzburg prosecutors told Austria's press agency APA.

The retired officer was arrested in Upper Austria on Friday and is being questioned, the spokesman said.

Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who governs in coalition with the far-right and pro-Moscow Freedom Party, on Friday announced that a retired colonel was believed to have spied for Moscow from the 1990s until this year.

Prosecutors are considering requesting pre-trial detention after the interrogation.

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