Australia’s Albanese tells Russia to ‘back off’ as war of words over spy couple heats
- Moscow accused Canberra of inciting ‘anti-Russian paranoia’ for charging Kira and Igor Korolev with espionage
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 on Friday.
“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 on Friday.
“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 Labor Party,” the embassy said.
Albanese, speaking to reporters on Saturday, 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.
