BERLIN: Dead letter drops. Fake papers with cover stories to match. Secret orders by radio from Moscow.

The accusations read like something out of the Cold War but the charges against a couple who went on trial Tuesday in Stuttgart stem primarily from after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag - only the fake names on the fake Austrian passports they used to enter Germany are known - are charged with providing Russia's foreign intelligence service with information on German, EU and NATO security policies and more general details on Russian-German relations.

The pair, thought to be in their 40s or 50s, denied charges of espionage as their trial opened in Stuttgart state court, but refused to make any other statements.

No verdict is expected before June.