A 27-year-old man with dual Russian-Australian citizenship will front court on Friday after being charged with intentional foreign interference.
Counter-intelligence watchers arrested the Victorian resident in southwest Brisbane on Thursday following a Counter Foreign Interference Task Force investigation, the Australian Federal Police said.
The task force, jointly led by the AFP and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, investigates serious threats to Australia’s national interests.
The man is scheduled to appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court, with AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett set to front a press conference on Friday afternoon.
Canberra’s staunch bipartisan backing for Ukraine’s fight against invading Russian forces has earned Australia a spot on the Kremlin’s list of “unfriendly countries and territories”.
That listing has coincided with intensifying Russian espionage and disruption efforts in Australia in recent years.
In 2023, Australia expelled a “major spy network” comprised of Russian diplomatic staff operating in the country under deep-cover.
Agents recruited locally to build “a wider network”, ASIO chief Mike Burgess said at the time.
“Among other malicious activities, they wanted to steal sensitive information,” he said.
In another high-profile case, two Russian-born Australian citizens, Kira Korolev and her husband, Igor, were initially charged with preparing for an espionage offence in 2024.
Authorities accused Ms Korolev, an Australian Defence Force information systems technician of exploiting her security access to funnel military secrets to Moscow.
The charges against were upgraded in June of this year to conspiracy to commit espionage, which could see them jailed for life.
The national cyber intelligence agency last month warned hackers linked to the Russia’s Federal Security Service were targeting critical Australian industries, including defence, communications, energy and financial services.
More to come
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