From AP:  German prosecutors say they have filed espionage charges against two alleged Russian agents whom they accuse of spying for information on European Union and NATO strategy.

The federal prosecutors’ office alleged Thursday the pair, who were arrested last October, worked in Germany for Russia’s foreign intelligence service, or SVR, for more than 20 years.

From AFP:  "The accused had the task of gathering information about the political and military strategy of the EU and NATO," the prosecutor’s office said.

They are accused of running another agent from October 2008 to August 2011 who spirited official documents about EU and NATO affairs from the Dutch foreign ministry to them.

"The accused, alias Andreas A., then delivered them to his headquarters via so-called dead letterboxes," it said.

"Until their arrest on October 18, 2011 they also provided political-social information about general and security-relevant political aspects of relations between Germany, the EU and NATO to Russia. . . ."

In exchange, they received nearly 100,000 ($130,000) euros in payments per year for their services as spies, the prosecutor’s office said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence services discovered the couple after receiving a tip from the FBI in the United States, which had unmasked Russian SVR agents on its own soil.  (graphic: en.academic.ru)