Defence experts believe Russia is the most likely suspect behind the “nest of spies” uncovered by Australia’s domestic spy agency. On Wednesday, Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), delivered the Annual Threat Assessment and outlined how, over the past year, ASIO had dealt with a “significant” number of spies or proxies in the country. He detailed how the agency combated the evolving twin threats of espionage and extremist activity in Australia and revealed that ideology-based extremism now accounted for 40 percent of the agency’s caseload. While COVID-19 has forced many spy networks to shift their activities online, the agency was still disrupting traditional espionage efforts, including “infiltration, coercion, or the recruitment of sources.” It follows Burgess’ warning last year that Australia faced an “unprecedented” level of foreign espionage in the country, saying there was more activity than during the Cold War. The spy chief revealed how …