The Australian-born couple, who were born in Russia, are accused of trying to obtain defense material and giving it to Moscow.
On Thursday, police detained the suspects at their residence in Brisbane.
Army Private Kira Korolev, 40, and her husband, Igor Korolev, 62, made an appearance at the city’s magistrate’s court on Friday. They were each accused of one count of planning to commit an act of espionage.
According to reports, they did not request bail and were remanded in custody until their next scheduled appearance on September 20.
Igor works as a freelance laborer, while Kira is an information systems technician for the Australian Defence Force.
Over ten years ago, they made the move to Australia.
“The AFP will allege the individuals worked together to access Australian Defence Force material that related to Australia’s national security interests,” Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Reece Kershaw stated.
“We claim they looked for that information to give it to Russian officials.
The question of whether the information was turned over is still at the center of our inquiry.
