AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess are now taking questions about the Russian-born Australian couple who have been charged with espionage offences.
The couple has been in Australia for over ten years, with the female gaining Australian citizenship in 2016, followed by her husband in 2020.
“She has been employed in the Australian Army, in the Australian Defence Force for several years as an information systems technician,” Kershaw said.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director General Mike Burgess.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The charges are the first under legislation introduced in 2018. Burgess clarified that the charge is “acts in preparation for an espionage offence”.
“We are showing that there is an intent to share that information, whether or not that has occurred, that will form further to our investigation avenues of inquiry and, for example, the 15-year offence is upgraded to a 25-years-to-life, depending on what we further discover.”
Kershaw confirmed that “no significant compromise has been identified at this stage,” and that the allegation in the charge only relates to the intent to commit espionage.
A journalist asked the pair how someone with a security clearance would be able to travel to Russia, in relation to trips taken by the wife, who was an ADF employee.
“That is part of the investigation we are going through. At this stage, there was some misleading on her behalf of where she was allegedly at and in what country,” Kershaw said.
It was also confirmed that the pair held Russian passports, but wasn’t made clear whether they were dual Australian-Russian citizens.
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