About this record

This is a statement by Evdokia Petrov written three days after an incident at Sydney's Mascot Airport in 1954, when she was boarding a flight to the Soviet Union. She describes her emotional state and her fear of the Australian crowd who witnessed her departure. She states that the four Russian escorts who accompanied her acted protectively and denies asking to be rescued. The two-page typed document is witnessed by GR Richards, deputy director of security in Australia and dated 22 April 1954. It was tabled at the Royal Commission on Espionage held later that year.

Educational value

• This statement describes part of an infamous event known as the 'Petrov Affair' – the most sensational espionage incident to occur in Australia during the Cold War. Evdokia Petrov and her husband Vladimir Petrov worked secretly in Australia as Soviet intelligence officers, but he had defected to Australia without her knowledge in April 1954. Told that he had been kidnapped by Australian spies and was possibly dead, she accepted her recall to the Soviet Union.
• Evdokia Petrov's statement raises interesting questions about her defection. She agrees she had been under supervision at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra for several days, describing herself as unwell and upset as a result of her treatment there. Despite this, she does not make it clear whether at the time she wanted to stay in Australia, commenting that she hoped to be rescued later. Her statement was probably influenced by fear for the safety of her family in the Soviet Union.
• Petrov testifies that she remembered the crowd at Mascot Airport calling out to her saying she would be killed if she returned to Russia. This was a popular belief in Australia at the time, particularly among émigrés from Eastern Europe who had fled communism. A group of émigrés and others had gathered at Mascot, in the belief that she would be punished or executed if she returned home. Petrov may well have been genuinely frightened at the time.
• Unfavourable publicity surrounding the incident at Mascot persuaded the Australian government to send a representative to approach Petrov when her plane arrived in Darwin. She was forcibly separated from her Soviet escorts by Australian officials and spoke to her husband by phone. At the last minute she agreed to defect. Although portrayed as a victory over the much-feared communism, the affair was complex and Evdokia Petrov’s beliefs and motives were never conclusively established.
• This statement was tabled at the Royal Commission on Espionage. The investigation began in May 1954 after Vladimir Petrov's defection, and focused on Soviet intelligence activities in Australia during the Cold War. The investigation was initiated a short time before the federal election, leading to claims that Menzies and Australia's intelligence organisation ASIO were seizing an opportunity to discredit the Australian Labor Party. Labor lost the election and shortly after there was a split within the party.