Austrian officials investigating a senior U.S. diplomat suspected of spying want to question a call girl with whom he was involved, a senior government official said.
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov ducked questions Wednesday about the U.S. diplomat, who is suspected of spying for the Soviets.The Austrian official, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity, confirmed a newspaper report quoting Interior Ministry officials as saying the envoy, Felix S. Bloch, was involved with a call girl.
"There is a woman with whom Mr. Bloch has maintained a long relationship in Austria," the official said.
ABC News reported from Washington last weekend that during initial questioning by U.S. authorities, Bloch claimed at one point that he spied because he fell into a Soviet sex trap, but the network said investigators have discounted that story.
The Austrian official told The Associated Press that the woman is on vacation and believed to be out of the country.
"We have no reason to look for her abroad, but when she comes back from her vacation, we are going to talk to her to find out whether she had any suspicions (of spying) in any direction," he said.
"She is a source of information for us, but there is nothing pending against her," he said, adding that the woman, who is in her 30s, was an Austrian citizen and a Vienna resident.
He emphasized this was just one of the lines being pursued by the Austrian and American officials probing the Bloch affair.
At a news briefing Wednesday in Moscow, Gerasimov was asked if Bloch was ever connected to the KGB or any East Bloc intelligence agency. He called such reports "pure speculation."
Pressed by reporters who suggested that an explicit answer could end speculation, he said only: "The speculation has not been confirmed."
In Washington, State Department officials declined to discuss the report about the call girl. They have refused to respond to all questions that could have a bearing on the investigation.
Formerly the No. 2 official in the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, the 54-year-old Bloch was placed on leave with pay on June 22.