Soviets deny use of high-frequency radio transmitter

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 5

Soviets deny use of high-frequency radio transmitter

NZPA-AAP Canberra The Soviet Embassy in Canberra was believed to be flouting the Vienna Convention by using a high-frequency radio transmitter without a licence, said a prominent intelligence expert.

The head of the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Professor Desmond Ball, said Federal Government agency sources also believed the Soviet action flouted Australian regulations. But a Government approach to the Soviets on the matter would acknowledge that Australia’s Defence Signals Directorate (D.S.D.) was monitoring the signals — believed to be from the K.G.8., he said.

“And to do so could compromise the D.S.D. by (revealing) how it was able to tell these things,” Professor Ball said.

A Soviet Embassy spokesman said there was “absolutely” no truth in the allegations, raised in the “Canberra Times.”

The embassy was not making the transmissions and never had applied for such a licence, the spokesman said. Under the Vienna Convention, a diplomatic mission must apply to its host country for a licence to use a transmitter. The fact that the convention may be being flouted, rather than the content of any signals, can be seen as the most important aspect of the allegations. Similar allegations have been raised before — although this is the first time it has been claimed that the embassy has been transmitting without a licence.

In July, a former Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director, Mr Harvey Barnett, said publicly it was his understanding that coded high-frequency traffic was sent to Moscow from an aerial at the embassy. But Mr Barnett said he believed at that stage the Australian Government had approved this. ,

Professor Ball said sources within Government agencies since had told him they believed the transmissions were being sent from the embassy by the K.G.B. without approval.

Although the D.S.D. was picking up the signals, this did not necessarily mean they were able to be decoded. “The transmissions switch very rapidly. They last for a fraction of a second on a frequency and then switch to another,” Professor Ball said.

Only three embassies here had licences for such transmissions — Switzerland, Indonesia and the United States, he said.

This gave them an additional method, apart from Telecom lines, to deal with the multitude of messages which had to go to and from embassies and their countries.

Professor Ball expected the situation would continue because of the Government’s awkward position.