The Coalition is demanding an urgent investigation into the Australian Defence Force after “embarrassing” footage emerged of an alleged Russian spy starring as the face of a recruitment campaign.
The call comes after The Nightly uncovered two videos promoting Army private Kira Korolev as a model soldier.
The now-deleted clips document her journey from growing up in Moscow, to joining the ADF as an information systems technician.
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“We had an alleged spy as the poster girl for the Australian Army,” shadow assistant minister for defence Phil Thompson said.
“This is an embarrassing time for the army. We’ve failed somewhere and there needs to be a thorough investigation.”
Russian-born Private Korolev and her husband Igor were arrested at their unit in Brisbane last week and face 15 years imprisonment after Australia’s counter-foreign interference taskforce charged them with preparing for an espionage offence.
The pair is accused of using her ADF credentials to access sensitive national security material to share with the Kremlin.
“Russian spies doing advertisements for the ADF, it’s probably not the best look, you’d probably be better if you had a person patriotic to Australia,” assistant shadow minister for veterans’ affairs Barnaby Joyce told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“But hell if you can’t find anyone just get your closest Russian spy and chuck them on television.”
In one of the videos, the alleged spy speaks of guarding Australian defence networks from attack, working with allied nations, and serving the country she “loves”.
“On a day-to-day basis, I’m administering the system, making sure that the network works well and we don’t have any security breaches,” Private Korolev said in the September 2021 video.
The Australian Federal Police alleges that Mrs Korolev undertook undeclared travel to Russia without her husband while on long-term leave from the ADF since 2023.
It is further alleged that while the man remained in Australia, the woman instructed him on how to log into her official work account, and guided him to access specific information to send directly to her private email account while she was in Russia.
In the ADF recruitment video, Private Korolev explained she was 33 when she joined the Army.
“I was growing up living in Moscow, Russia,” the now-40-year-old ADF Army Private said.
“A lot of people think that it’s a help desk job where you’re sitting in the office and helping the users on a network. However, it’s more challenging and exciting.”
“Without the information systems technician, the command wouldn’t be able to communicate effectively while they are outfield. I chose IT in the Army because it brings more opportunities and challenges and excitement. We do a lot of stuff besides just being IT professionals.”
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten told Sunrise the ADF’s security and background checks must be overhauled.
“It sort of makes the system look stupid,” he said.
“The vetting procedures have got to be better … that’s just embarrassing.”
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy argued the fact the pair was arrested proved the system was working.
“Our intelligence agencies and the Australian Federal Police recognised what was occurring,” he said.
The Minister has rejected concerns the ADF’s recruitment crisis led to major mistakes.
“We are confident we have got the systems in place to make sure that people are being appropriately vetted,” he said.