CLAIM BY PETROV

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27564, 22 January 1955, Page 7

CLAIM BY PETROV

Plane Bearings Received

(Rec. 9.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 21. Vladimir Petrov, the former Russian spy chief in Australia, claimed today that a naturalised British subject, A. Y. Vassilieff, had handed him samples of special hard-wearing aircraft bearings and the secret of their manufacture. He was giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Espionage in Australia. A Moscow letter read to the inquiry said Vassilieff had claimed his bearings were superior to any other aircraft bearings at .present being used. The letter said Vassilieff had not given the secret of the manufacture to Britain or the United States.

Petrov said he received sample bearings in the presence of another Soviet Embassy official, Kislitsin, in the Canberra Embassy, late in 1952. He sent the samples and information to Moscow by the next diplomatic courier.

Petrov described Vassilieff as born in Russia in 1884, and a man who had a considerable love for his home country although his attitude to politics was “entirely negative.” The former Soviet spy chief said the bearings were on sale in Australia, bqt he was interested in learning the secret of their manufacture.

Petrov told the Commission his predecessor, as M.V.D. chief in Australia, Sadovnikov, had been offered the secret of the manufacture but was frightened that the Australian Security Service was trying to trap him. Moscow had code-named Vassilieff, “Custar,” and had asked Canberra M.V.D. men to check whether Vassilieff was the man of the same name who was connected with Fascist organisations in Manchuria at one time.

Petrov told a barrister, Mr J. A. Clapin, who was appearing for Vassilieff, that he thought Vassilieff’s attitude was not one of disloyalty to his adopted country, but that he was purely seeking commercial opportunities.

Aikie Yakovitch Vassilieff followed Petrov into the witness-box. He said he was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1884, and came to Australia from Harbin, Manchuria, in 1911. He was now a naturalised British subject. He was managing director of the A. Y. Vassilieff Manufacturing • Company, South Melbourne.