Egisto Ott, 63, was handed a sentence of four years and one month behind bars for espionage against Austria, abuse of power and corruption.
He had faced up to five years in prison. Ott has appealed and the sentence is not final.
A fellow Austrian intelligence agent who helped Ott with some of his operations was handed a 15-month suspended prison term.
Ott had pleaded not guilty and had been on trial at a court in the Austrian capital since January 22 for activities carried out without a mandate between 2015 and 2022, according o prosecutors.
The prosecution was based in part on evidence provided to Austria by a western country that unmasked Ott during an investigation. A British witness was heard during the trial.
During the proceedings, jurors, who unanimously found him guilty, were told that he had submitted requests for assistance to Italy and the United Kingdom in order to obtain information in the interest of Russia and not of Austria.
He notably operated on the orders of Jan Marsalek, the Austrian former head of the German group Wirecard, who is wanted for fraud and believed to have taken refuge in Russia and suspected of working for Russian intelligence.
Ott told AFP on Tuesday that he rejected all the accusations, including suspected abuse of office, corruption and espionage to the detriment of Austria, and was “innocent”.
“At no point did I sell or pass on in any way information to Russian intelligence services,” he said, adding he had always acted within the law and on orders from his superiors.
According to the indictment seen by AFP, Ott risked inflicting “serious damage” on Austria’s reputation among friendly intelligence services.
