Vladimir Putin's spies used Cristiano Ronaldo's YouTube videos to send encrypted messages to Moscow, A2 CNN reports. The extraordinary discovery came to light after a couple in Germany were arrested and convicted of spying for Russia.
In the city of Marburg, an hour north of Frankfurt, Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag seemed like an ordinary couple, claiming to be Austrian citizens of South American origin. Andreas worked as a mechanical engineer, while Heidrun took care of the housework and looked after their daughter, who had no idea of her parents' true identities.
However, after in-depth investigations, it was discovered that they were Russian spies and that for 23 years they had received £80,000 a year to spy for the Soviet Union and later for Russia, leaking thousands of secrets from the EU, NATO and the UN.
The couple had been using radio and satellites to communicate with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). But with the rise of the internet, they found a new way to send encrypted messages. They created a YouTube profile under the name @Aplenkuh1, and another SVR profile was soon created under the name @crsitanofootballer.
In the comments of Ronaldo's videos, they wrote vague messages like "This is a very nice video and the song is also very good," and the SVR profile responded, saying "He runs and plays like the devil." German investigators believe these messages were a way to communicate while hiding from the public eye, amidst a sea of comments on a video platform like YouTube.
The couple was arrested in October 2011 and sentenced in 2013. Andreas received 6.5 years in prison and Heidrun 5.5 years. However, by the end of 2015, they were released and deported to Russia. (A2 Televizion)
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