Australian Federal Police officers escort a Russian-born man arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia. Photo: AFP/Facebook
Two Russian-born Australian citizens face charges of spying for Russia, the country's federal police announced Friday morning local time.
Why it matters: Australia is a U.S. partner in the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance, along with the U.K., Canada and New Zealand.
Driving the news: The 40-year-old woman, who is a soldier, and her 62-year-old husband are accused of obtaining Australian Defence Force (ADF) material to share with Russian authorities.
State of play: Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw said at a Friday briefing that investigators had found "no significant compromise" of military secrets following their arrest on Thursday in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland on Australia's east coast.
"The AFP will allege that while on long-term leave from the ADF since 2023, the woman undertook non-declared travel to Russia with and without the man," per a statement from the federal police ahead of the couple's expected court appearance in Brisbane on Friday.
The woman is accused of instructing her husband when he was in Australia on how to log into her official work account and guiding him "to access specific information to send directly to her private email account while she was in Russia," according to the police.
"The AFP will allege the woman's ADF account credentials were used on a number of occasions to access sensitive ADF information, with the intent to provide it to Russian authorities," the statement added.
"It will be alleged the information accessed by the couple related to Australian national security interests."
What they're saying: "Espionage is real," said Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess in a statement.
"Multiple countries are seeking to steal Australia's secrets," he added.
"Espionage is not some quaint cold war notion. Espionage damages our economy and degrades our strategic advantage. It can have catastrophic real-world consequences."
