Hello and welcome to the details of Australia PM tells Russia to ‘back off’ over spy accusations and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a signing ceremony at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra June 17, 2024. — Lukas Coch/Pool via Reuters
SYDNEY, July 13 — Russia accused Australia of inciting “anti-Russian paranoia” for charging a Russian-born couple with espionage, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today to tell Moscow to “back off”.
The married couple, who hold Australian citizenship, were arrested on charges of working to access material related to Australia’s national security, though no significant compromise was identified, the Australian Federal Police said yesterday.
“There is widespread information about the arrest in Brisbane of the spouses Kira and Igor Korolev, who have Russian and Australian citizenship, on charges of attempting to spy for Russia,” the Russian embassy in the capital Canberra said in a statement to Russia’s RIA state news agency yesterday.
“The purpose of this campaign is obvious — to raise a new wave of anti-Russian paranoia here, distract Australians from the numerous failures of the policies of the ruling Labour Party,” the embassy said.
Advertisement
Albanese, speaking to reporters today, said Russia needed to “stop interfering in domestic affairs of other sovereign nations”.
“Russia can get the message, back off. Russia engages in espionage here and around the world,” Albanese said in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state, according to a transcript.
Australia, one of the largest non-Nato contributors to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, announced a A$250 million (RM794 million) military aid package for Kyiv on Thursday at a Nato summit in Washington.
Advertisement
The embassy requested written information from the Australian authorities on the couple’s situation and was considering “appropriate measures of consular assistance”, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported today.
The embassy did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
The Korolevs appeared in Brisbane magistrate’s court yesterday, court filings show, 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 laws introduced in 2018.
They did not apply for bail and were remanded in custody until September 20 when they are next due to appear, media reported.
The wife, 40, an information systems technician in the Australian Army, travelled to Russia and instructed her husband in Australia to log into her official account to access defence materials, police said.
Canberra has been supplying defence equipment to Kyiv, banned exports of aluminium ores to Russia and sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian individuals and entities. — Reuters
Recommended reading:
These were the details of the news Australia PM tells Russia to ‘back off’ over spy accusations for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
