An Australian judge in Brisbane has given prosecutors until December to finalize their case involving an army private, Kira, and her husband, Igor Korolev, who are suspected of being Russian spies. The Korolevs, who are Russian-born, were charged in July under Australia’s updated espionage laws. Prosecutor Ellie McDonald informed Magistrate Peter Saggers that investigators require more time to collect evidence from the couple’s 12 seized electronic devices.
Magistrate Saggers has instructed a complete brief of evidence to be given to defense attorneys by December 13, with the case set to resume on December 20. Kira, a 40-year-old information systems technician, has been suspended from the army since her arrest, while her 62-year-old husband works as a self-employed laborer.
The Korolevs did not appear in court, and their legal representatives have not applied for bail or revealed how they plan to plead to the espionage preparation charges they each face, which carry a maximum 15-year prison sentence upon conviction. If evidence shows information was shared with Russia, the charges could escalate, leading to potential convictions with maximum sentences of 25 years to life..
The couple has been residing in Australia for ten years. The police allege that Kira did not disclose her trip to Russia in 2023 while on army leave and that she coached her husband to access her official work computer account, guiding him on obtaining and sending specific information to her private email while in Russia.
In response to the charges, the Russian embassy dismissed them as an effort to fuel “another wave of anti-Russian paranoia in Australia.”