Germany puts KGB spy couple on trial

STUTTGART, Germany (AFP) - A married couple accused of spying for the Russian secret services for more than 20 years went on trial in Germany on Tuesday, in one of the biggest espionage court cases since the Cold War. The pair, identified only by codenames Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, are accused of having been planted in West Germany from 1988 by the Soviet Union’s KGB and later used by its SVR successor secret service. The defendants, whose alias surname means “attack” in German, declined to confirm any details about their identity or the charges as the trial got underway in the higher regional court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart. Defence lawyer Horst-Dieter Poetschke said they had Russian citizenship.

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