Struggle for the Russian Soul: The Petrov Escape
KRYCIER, RICHARD
Struggle for the Russian Soul While more and more Soviet subjects are seeking refuge in the free world, the Kremlin is resorting to terror to improve its propaganda position THE PETROV ESCAPE By...
...Finally, Mrs...
...This was followed by a special meeting of the Australian Communist party, at which party president Dixon insisted that the "Petrov affair is a gigantic frame-up against the people...
...It also organized a press conference, at which Mrs...
...After a series of dramatic maneuvers, interrupted by a long-distance call to her husband and protests from the Russians, Mrs...
...Gloating Russian diplomats asked for police protection to return to their cars, and the crowd dispersed as if after a funeral...
...People attacked the car and the "diplomatic" security guards...
...Struggle for the Russian Soul While more and more Soviet subjects are seeking refuge in the free world, the Kremlin is resorting to terror to improve its propaganda position THE PETROV ESCAPE By Richard Krygier Sydney Prime Minister Robert Menzies has announced that the disclosures of Vladimir Petrov, third secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Canberra and MVD representative in Australia, who defected to the West, will be submitted to a special Royal Commission...
...Personally, I am inclined to believe that, if there was no prearranged plan, as people close to the Prime Minister now claim, Mr...
...Petrov had not appealed to the security men for political asylum...
...In a last-ditch effort to save her, some people pulled the gangway away from the plane, but, with the help of flight stewards who felt it their duty to assist her, she disappeared into the plane...
...Petrov was half dragged, half carried up the gangway...
...Some people sought permission to use the airline's loudspeakers, but airline officials did not answer the request...
...Petrov declared that her husband had been kidnaped...
...The moment the Embassy car stopped at the Overseas Terminal, bedlam broke loose...
...The two pistols were returned to the Russians at their next port of call...
...It soon became known that Mrs...
...In great excitement, the crowd urged Mrs...
...it took the Russians fifteen minutes to drag Mrs...
...Petrov's freedom were actually responsible for the final outcome...
...Even some gullible politicians who tolerated too many Alger Hisses and Dexter Whites in their midst will be affected...
...The captain radioed back that Mrs...
...Petrov declared her intention to stay in Australia...
...In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mrs...
...Unfortunately, officials to whom one could appeal were nowhere in sight and the plane began its take-off...
...Hundreds of people, most of them former victims of Soviet persecution, showed up because they wanted to do something to save this woman...
...The Ambassador discreetly denied any responsibility for her statement, but he called the Prime Minister's statement "utter rubbish...
...Police, airport guards, security men and detectives could do nothing to control the situation...
...Wentworth and the others who pleaded for Mrs...
...Petrov to request freedom, but the Russians would not even allow her to retrieve a shoe she had lost...
...Petrov personally refused the interview because she feared a "trap...
...Petrov from the car to the plane's gangway??a distance of a few yards...
...As soon as Prime Minister Menzies announced Petrov's defection, the Russian Embassy issued its usual disclaimers...
...When the plane landed, it was met by armed police and Darwin's Senior Government Officer, who expressed a desire to talk to Mrs...
...Her diplomatic protectors objected a bit strenuously, but the police subdued them and took away their .38-caliber revolvers...
...On the evening that Mrs...
...The crowd became desperate, and many people shouted that they had heard her call for help and say she did not want to go back...
...But there was one man at the airport who does not give up a battle easily, William Charles Wentworth, Liberal (Government) MP who has been fighting Communists for a long time...
...Petrov said she wanted to stay in Australia but was afraid to declare herself because her bodyguards were armed...
...Wentworth and the crowd were responsible for correcting the security officers' fantastic blunder...
...Prime Minister Menzies issued a statement declaring that reports showed Mrs...
...Thus, the Australian police were simply preventing the Russians from breaking the law when they disarmed them...
...Perhaps it is true, as I heard one Cabinet minister claim, that everything followed a prearranged plan...
...Petrov call for help and secured affidavits...
...As yet, it is too early to determine the full scope of these disclosures, which are known to contain information on a great number of Australian "co-operatives" in the Soviet espionage network...
...Petrov was to leave the country, I went to Mascot Airdrome, where she was scheduled to board a Constellation, and found it unusually crowded...
...at about 1 A.M., he instructed the Constellation's captain to ask Mrs...
...It is safe to assume, however, that they will have far-reaching effects not only in the tightening of security measures but on a few people in Civil Service, trade unions, science and the arts...
...her parents and three sisters still live in Russia, and she could not know that it was up to her to make an initial gesture for freedom...
...Their biggest problem, however, was that they did not know exactly what to do...
...He telephoned Canberra so that action could be taken, but his affidavits and observations did not tally with reports that had been submitted by the security officers...
...It had been announced that Government diplomatic and security officers would be on hand to aid Mrs...
...We will probably never know whether Mr...
...The security men had said she appeared to be frightened by the crowd demonstrating near the plane...
...This settled the matter...
...Everyone expected her to be drugged...
...Petrov opportunities to appeal for asylum at Darwin and other stopping points...
...Petrov if she expressed a desire for asylum, but the odds were strongly against any such move on her part...
...Less than a week after Petrov's move was made public, two strong-arm men??posing as diplomatic couriers??arrived at the Soviet Embassy...
...Petrov's freedom flashed across the country Australians heaved a sigh of relief...
...Wentworth and his wife, who was visibly moved, rounded up the people who had heard Mrs...
...and there is a law which specifically prohibits the carrying of loaded firearms on a passenger plane...
...Petrov was to return home with them, and her husband, through the Australian Government, wrote the Embassy to request a last-minute interview with her...
...The plane was due in Darwin early the following morning, and something could still be done...
...Ironically, the revolvers settled some ticklish problems of international law...
...Diplomatic couriers, even if they are gangsters, enjoy diplomatic immunity...
...Petrov about her intentions...
...Since she was a cipher clerk at the Embassy and enjoyed diplomatic immunity, Australian officials could not contact her directly to offer asylum...
...In any event, when the news of Mrs...
...Strong protests began pouring in to the Prime Minister at midnight...
...There were plenty of doubts...
...If there were any doubts about the security reports, Menzies went on, the Government proposed to give Mrs...
...Petrov alone...
...Once or twice, she seemed to stop, but her bodyguards pushed her on...
...Nevertheless, they must observe laws and regulations...
Vol. 37 • May 1954 • No. 19
