Australia charges Russian-born married couple with espionage

Sydney: Australia said on Friday it had arrested a Russian-born married couple on espionage charges, alleging the woman who was an information systems technician in the Australian Army sought to access defence material and send it to Russian officials.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the couple, who hold Australian citizenship, worked to access material related to Australia's national security though no significant compromise had been identified yet.

"We allege they sought that information with the intention of providing it to Russian authorities," AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said during a media briefing.

"Whether that information was handed over remains a key focus of our investigation."

The AFP said the woman, 40, travelled to Russia and instructed her husband in Australia to log into her official account to access defence materials.

They will appear in a court on Friday after being charged with one count each of preparing for an espionage offence, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail. The charges are the first under new laws introduced six years ago.

The couple has been living in Australia for more than 10 years, with the woman getting Australian citizenship in 2016 and her husband in 2020.

The arrests come as Australia on Thursday unveiled an A$250 million ($169 million) military aid package for Ukraine at the NATO summit in Washington, the country's single largest aid package since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West's support for Ukraine and has been supplying defence equipment to Kyiv, banned exports of aluminium ores to Russia and sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.

Australia has also asked Russia to crack down on the large number of cyber criminals operating in the country, saying their actions posed a threat to national security.

In January, Canberra sanctioned a Russian man for his role in the breach at insurer Medibank, one of the country's biggest data thefts which impacted about 10 million customers.