Petrov Affair, named for Vladimir Petrov, aroused bitter controversy in Australia. It began in 1954, when Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced that Petrov, an official at the Soviet embassy in Canberra, had asked for political asylum in Australia. Menzies stated that Petrov had disclosed the existence of a Soviet spy ring in the country.
Soviet officials declared that Petrov had stolen embassy funds. They tried to take his wife, Evdokia Alexeyevna Petrov, back to the Soviet Union. But she asked for asylum during the journey. Australian police released her at Darwin in the Northern Territory. The Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Australia until 1959. In 1956, Petrov and his wife became naturalized Australian citizens.
The government appointed a royal commission to investigate the affair. In 1955, the commission reported its findings that spies had been operating in Australia. The report did not implicate any Australians.
Labor Party leaders, including H. V. Evatt, accused the government of staging the Petrov Affair in order to boost its popularity just before an election. The affair exposed deep divisions within the Labor Party over its attitude toward communism. Anticommunist Labor Party members accused Evatt of being pro-communist. The party’s federal executive supported him and expelled the anticommunist members from the party.
See also Evatt, Herbert Vere.
