They looked like any other couple strolling through the quiet streets of Marburg, Germany. Yet Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag were no ordinary citizens. For more than two decades, they passed secret NATO and EU documents to Russian intelligence. Their biggest secret involved one of the world’s most famous footballers. It turned out that YouTube highlights of Cristiano Ronaldo became an unlikely channel for their covert messages.
They started out using traditional spy tools, from hidden radio transmissions to satellite links. But in early 2011, they embraced a far more accessible option. They created a YouTube account under the name @Alpenkuh1 and posted comments under Ronaldo videos. Around the same time, a Russian intelligence-linked account named @crsitanofootballer emerged, ready to respond with what looked like typical fan chatter.
“It’s a very nice video and the song is also very good,” read one mundane post by the couple. Then the reply from the Kremlin side arrived: “He runs and plays like the devil.” Investigators soon discovered that these remarks contained sequences of punctuation that correlated to a numerical code. Once converted to numbers, the messages turned into instructions for the next piece of classified data or the next drop-off location.
The Anschlags easily kept up these conversations, which impressed many who later studied the case. According to BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera, “The YouTube platform created another novel way of communicating. The comments included a sequence of punctuation marks that could be turned into numbers which would then be referred back to a pre-agreed message.”
Their home life seemed just as ordinary. Andreas, an automotive engineer, left for work each morning. Heidrun stayed home, tending to their daughter, who had no idea about her parents’ espionage. German journalist and reporter Mika Beuster recalled, “There was nothing that would distinguish them from any other family in the town.” Beneath this calm façade, the couple pulled in roughly $98,000 each year from Moscow for their clandestine efforts.
A hidden code in plain sight
German authorities had them under surveillance for months before the final raid in October 2011. When officers burst through the door, Heidrun was receiving an encrypted transmission. She jerked away in shock and pulled out the connection cable, but the truth was already there for investigators to see.
In July 2013, Andreas was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, while Heidrun received five and a half. A Dutch Foreign Ministry official who supplied them with reams of documents got 12 years. By late 2015, the Anschlags were quietly released and deported to Russia.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who was playing for Real Madrid then, had no idea his highlight reels were doubling as a spy channel. Yet his name, and his YouTube clips, became an essential piece of modern espionage history. The case remains a stark reminder that nothing is ever as simple as it seems in the world of international intelligence, even when it appears on a public comment thread for one of the planet’s most celebrated athletes.
