Australia–Russia relations
Encyclopedia
Australia–Russia relations date back to 1807, when the Russian warship Neva
arrived in Sydney
as part of its circumnavigation of the globe. Consular relations between Australia
and the Russian Empire
were established in 1857. Diplomatic relations between Australia and the Soviet Union
were established in 1942, and the first Australian embassy opened in 1943.
through his connections with the Dutch
, and the Empire
in the 18th century tried several times, unsuccessfully, to reach the Australian continent.
Contacts between Russia and Australia date back to 1803, when Secretary of State for the Colonies
Lord Hobart
wrote to Governor of New South Wales Philip Gidley King
in relation to the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe by Adam Johann von Krusenstern
and Yuri Lisyansky
. As the Russian and British
empires were allies in the war against Napoleon
, the Russian warship Neva
, with Captain Ludwig von Hagemeister at the helm, was able to sail into Port Jackson
on 16 June 1807. Hagemeister and the ship's officers were extended the utmost courtesy by Governor William Bligh
, with the Governor inviting the Russians to Government House for dinner and a ball. This was the beginning of personal contacts between Russians and Australians, and Russian ships would continue to visit Australian shores, particularly as a stop on their way to supplying the Empire's North American colonies. The Suvorov commanded by Captain Mikhail Lazarev spent twenty-two days in New South Wales
in 1814, when it brought news of Napoleon's
defeat, and this was followed up by the 1820 visit of the Otkrytiye and Blagonamerenny. In 1820, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
and Mikhail Vasilyev arrived in New South Wales
, on board Antarctic
research ships Vostok and Mirny, under the command of Mikhail Lazarev. Bellingshausen returned to Sydney after discovering Antarctica, spending the winter at the invitation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie
. Macquarie played the greatest role in the expression of Russophilia
in the Colony, ensuring that the Russian visitors were made to feel welcome. While in Sydney, Bellingshausen collected information on the colony
, which he published in Russia as Short Notes on the Colony of New South Wales. He wrote that Schmidt, a naturalist
who was attached to the Lazarev expedition
, discovered gold near Hartley
, making him the first person to discover gold in Australia. While in Sydney, on 27 March 1820, officials from the colony were invited on board the Vostok to celebrate Orthodox Easter
, marking the first time that a Russian Orthodox service was held in the Australian Colonies.
Although Russia and Britain were allies against Napoleon, the taking of Paris in 1814
by the Imperial Russian Army
caused consternation with the British in relation to Tsar
Alexander's
intention of expanding Russian influence which would compete with Britain's own imperialistic ambitions. Further visits to the New South Wales colony in 1823 by the Rurik
and the Apollon, along with the 1824 visits by the Ladoga and Kreiser, caused concern with the colony authorities, who reported their concerns to London
. In 1825 and 1828, the Elena visited Australia followed by the Krotky in 1829, the Amerika in 1831 and 1835. Visits by Russian ships became so common in Sydney Cove
that their place of mooring near Neutral Bay
became known as Russian Point, which added to the sense of alarm in the Colonies. By the late 1830s, relations between Russia and Britain
had deteriorated, and in 1841 the Government of New South Wales
decided to establish fortification at Pinchgut in order to repel a feared Russian invasion. Fortifications at Queenscliff
, Portsea
, and Mud Islands
in Melbourne's
Port Philip Bay followed, as did similar structures on the Tamar River near Launceston
and on the banks of the Derwent River at Sandy Bay
and Hobart
. As Australia was engaged in a gold rush
in the 1840s and 1850s, in conjunction with the Crimean War
between the UK and Russia, paranoia of a Russian invasion gripped the Colony, and Russophobia
increased. In 1855, the Colony built fortifications around Admiralty House
and completed Fort Denison on Pinchgut Island, as the emergence of the Pacific Ocean Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy
furthered the fear of a Russian invasion of the Colonies, and rumours spread that the Russians had invaded the Port of Melbourne
. Inflows of Russians and Russian
-speaking immigrants which began to increase in the 1850s, and the nature of friendly relations between Russian and Australian representatives, led to the appointment of two Russian honorary consuls in 1857; James Damyon in Melbourne
and EM Paul in Sydney
.
Seven years after the conclusion of the Crimean War, the Russian corvette
, and flagship
of the Russian Pacific squadron, Bogatyr visited Melbourne
and Sydney in 1863. The corvette visited the cities on a navigational drill under the Commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet Read Admiral Andrey Alexandrovich Popov, and the ship and crew were welcomed with warmth. Popov paid Governor of Victoria Henry Barkly
and Governor of New South Wales John Young
protocol
visits, and they in turn visited the Russian ship. The Russians opened the ship for public visitation in Melbourne, and more than 8,000 Australians visited the ship over a period of several days. The goodwill visit was a success, but the Bogatyr's appearance in Melbourne did put the city on a war footing, as noted in The Argus
which reported that the ship managed to approach Melbourne unnoticed, ostensibly due to the lack of naval forces in Port Phillip Bay. After the Bogatyr had left the Colony, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on 7 April 1863 that the crew of the ship had engaged in topographical surveys of the Port Jackson and Botany Bay
areas, which included investigating coastal fortifications, but this did not raise any eyebrows at the time.
Anti-Russian sentiment began to take hold in the Australian media
in November 1864 after the publication by The Times
in London of an article which asserted that the Colonies were on the edge of a Russian invasion. The article, published on 17 September 1864, stated that Rear Admiral Popov received instructions from the Russian Naval Minister to raid Melbourne in the event there was a Russo-English war, but noted that such a plan was unlikely due to its perception of the Russian forces being inadequate for such an attack. Australian newspapers, including The Age
and Argus, took The Times claims more seriously and began to write on the need to increase defence capabilities to protect against the threat of a Russian invasion. On 11 May 1870, the corvette Boyarin appeared at the Derwent River and rumours spread in Hobart
that a Russian invasion was almost a certainty. The reason for the appearance of the Russian warship
was humanitarian in nature; the ship's purser
was ill and Captain Serkov gained permission to hospitalise Grigory Belavin and remain in port for two weeks to replenish supplies and give the crew opportunity for some shore leave
. The ship's officers were guests at the Governor's Ball held in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria, and The Mercury
noted that the officers were gallant and spoke three languages including English
and French
. The following day a parade was held, and the crew of the Boyarin raised the Union Jack on its mast and fired a 21-gun salute
in honour to the British queen. This was reciprocated by the town garrison
which raised the Russian Naval flag of Saint Andrew
and fired a salute in honour of Tsar Alexander II
. After the death of Belavin, permission was given to bury him on shore, and his funeral saw the attendance of thousands of Hobart residents, and the locals donated funds to provide for a headstone on his grave. In gratitude of the welcome and care given by the Hobart citizenry, Captain Serkov presented the city with two mortars from the ship, which still stand at the entrance to the Anglesea Barracks. When the Boyarin left Hobart on 12 June, a military band onshore played God Save the Tsar, and the ship's crew replied by playing God Save the Queen
.
Although the visits of Russian ships were of a friendly nature, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was seen by Britain as part of a potential expansion plan by the Russian Empire into India
, and the Australian colonies were advised to upgrade their defence capabilities. The inadequacy of defences in the colony was seen in 1862, when the Svetlana sailed into Port Phillip Bay and the fort built had no gunpowder for its cannons to use to return a salute. William Jervois
, a Royal Engineer
, was commissioned to determine the defence capabilities of all colonies, with the exception of Western Australia
. In his report, he was convinced that the Russian Empire would to attack South Australia
n shipping in an attempt to destroy the local economy. As a result of Jervois' report, Fort Glanville and Fort Largs were built to protect Port Adelaide
. The "Russian threat" and Russophobia continued to permeate in Australian society, and were instrumental in the decision to build Australia's first true warships, the HMS Acheron and HMS Avernus, in 1879.
The Melbourne-based Epoch re-ignited fears of a Russia invasion when three Russian ships—the Afrika, Vestnik, and Platon—were sighted near Port Philip in January 1882. Despite the hysteria generated by the media in Melbourne, no invasion ensued. David Syme
, the proprietor of The Age
, wrote in a series of editorials that the visit of the three ships was associated with a war that was threatening to engulf Britain and Russia, and that the squadron under the command of Avraamy Aslanbegov was in the Pacific
in order to raid British commerce. Newspapers wrote that Admiral Aslanbegov behaved like a varnished barbarian due to his non-acceptance of invitations, and because he preferred to stay at the Menzies Hotel, rather than the Melbourne Club
or the Australian Club
. Aslanbegov was accused of spying and fraud
, leading to the Admiral complaining to the Premier of Victoria Bryan O'Loghlen
and threatening legal action against the newspaper. John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies
, defused the situation when he sent a telegraph to the government stating that relations with Russia are of a friendly character, and such newspaper reports are rendered incredible. Due to the fears of an invasion, Fort Scratchley
in Newcastle
was completed by 1885.
Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai
after conducting ethnographic research in New Guinea
since 1871 moved to the Australian Colonies in 1878, where he worked on William John Macleay
's zoological collection in Sydney and set up Australia's first marine biological
station in 1881. Since 1883 he advocated setting up a Russian protectorate
on the Maclay Coast in New Guinea, and noted his ideas of Russian expansionism in letters to those in power in Saint Petersburg
. In a letter he wrote to N. V. Kopylov in 1883, he noted there was a mood of expansionism in Australia, particularly towards New Guinea and the islands in Oceania
. He also wrote to Tsar Alexander III
in December 1883 that due to the lack of a Russian sphere of influence
in the South Pacific
and English domination in the region, there was a threat to Russian supremacy in the North Pacific. This view was mirrored in a letter to Konstantin Pobedonostsev
, and he expressed his willingness to provide assistance in pursuing Russian interests in the region. Nicholas de Giers
, the Russian Foreign Minister, suggested in reports to the Tsar that relations with Miklukho-Maklai should be maintained because of his familiarity with political and military issues in the region, while not advising him of any plans on the Government's plans for the region. This opinion was mirrored by the Naval Ministry. In total, three reports were sent to Russia by Miklukho-Maklai, containing information on the growth of anti-Russian sentiment and the buildup of the military in Australia, which correlated with the worsening of Anglo-Russian relations. Noting the establishment of coal bunkers and the fortifying of ports in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide
, he advocated taking over Port Darwin
, Thursday Island, Newcastle, and Albany
, noting their insufficient fortification. The Foreign Ministry considered a Russian colony in the Pacific as unlikely and military notes of the reports were only partially utilised by the Naval Ministry. The authorities in Russia appraised his reports, and in December 1886 de Giers officially advised Miklukho-Maklai that his request for the establishment of a Russian colony had been declined.
arrived in the Colony on board the corvette Rynda as part of celebrations of the Colonial centenary. The Rynda pulled into Newcaste in the afternoon of 19 January 1888 to replenish coal supplies, becoming the first Russian naval visitor to the city. The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate reported on 20 January 1888 that given the uncertain state of diplomatic relations between the European powers many people fled fearing that the Russian warship was present in Newcastle to start a war; however, those fears were quickly allayed when the goodwill nature of the visit became known. From Newcastle, the Rynda sailed to Sydney. The day after arrival Lord Carrington
, the Governor of New South Wales, sent a coach to bring the Grand Duke to Government House
. He was unable to attend due to laws of the Russian Empire which prohibited participation in State ceremonies of foreign states. The Russian officers attended Government House on 24 January as the guest of Lady Carrington. The HMS Nelson was late arriving in Sydney and on 26 January, the day of celebrations, the Rynda orchestra was invited to entertain the public, and the Australian media made the Grand Duke the central focus of the events. On 30 January the Russian officers were present at the ceremony of the foundation of the new parliament building
. One hundred seamen from the Rynda were invited to a festival organised by the citizens of Sydney on 31 January, and the Russian
and French flags were given prominence next to the Australian flag, whilst those of other nations were along the walls. Denoting the goodwill nature of the visit, Lord Carrington in a speech said, "We welcome into the waters of Port Jackson the gallant ship Rynda, we welcome the gallant sailors who sail under the blue cross of Saint Andrew, and we especially welcome — though we are not permitted to do so in official manner – that distinguished officer who is on board, a close blood-relation of his Majesty the Tsar
. Though not permitted to offer him an official welcome, we offer him a right royal welcome with all our hearts." The Rynda left Sydney on 9 February and arrived in Melbourne on 12 February. The visit was initially reported positively in the press, but after a few days The Age began to campaign for restricting the entry of foreign naval ships into Melbourne, and other articles described the expected war between "semi-barbarous and despotic Russia" and England. The public, however, continued to view the presence of the Russians positively, and on 22 February the Mayor of Melbourne Benjamin Benjamin
visited the ships. After staying for nearly a month, the Rynda left Melbourne on 6 March for New Zealand. The Grand Duke
supported expanding trade ties with Australia, noting that it was desirable for the Russians to expand their ties with Australia, outside of their relationship with Britain, and stated his belief that such relations were long overdue.
In 1890, the Government
in Saint Petersburg concluded Anglo-Russian relations in the Pacific to have become important enough to appoint a career diplomat
to represent Russian interests in the Australian Colonies. When John Jamison, the Russian honorary consul in Melbourne, went bankrupt and was no longer able to represent Russia's interests, the Russian government appointed Alexey Poutyata as the first Imperial Russian Consul to the Colonies on 14 July 1893, and he arrived with his family in Melbourne on 13 December 1893. Poutyata was an effective Consul
and his reports were well read in Saint Petersburg. His efforts at encouraging Australian manufacturers and merchants to attend the All-Russia Exhibition 1896
in Nizhny Novgorod
were instrumental in the signing of commercial contracts between Tasmania
n merchants and manufacturers in Russia. Poutyata died of kidney failure following complications from pneumonia
a little over a year after his arrival in Australia on 16 December 1894, which saw Robert Ungern von Sternberg being appointed to replace him at the end of 1895. Nikolai Matyunin, who replaced Sternberg as Consul in 1898, signed an agreement with Dalgety Australia Ltd
, which enabled Russian cargo ships to carry the company's pastoral
products back to Europe.
In 1900, the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs was advised that the Duke
and Duchess of York
would be visiting Australia for the opening of the Australian Federal Parliament in 1901, whereupon it was viewed as necessary to send a Russian naval vessel, and the Gromoboi
, captained by Karl Jessen, was ordered to divert to Melbourne on . On , the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Lambsdorff
wrote to the Naval Minister, advising him that sending a ship was not a political act but one of diplomatic etiquette. Tsar Nicholas II
viewed that "[i]t is desirable to send a cruiser". The Gromoboi arrived in Melbourne, after a call in Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, on 30 April 1901. The Russian Empire was represented at the opening of the first Australian Parliament on 1 May 1901 by Russian consul Nicolai Passek, who was based in Melbourne since the approval of his appointment by Queen Victoria
on 24 March 1900. The Duke of York visited the Gromoboi and was impressed by the cruiser, and he sent a request to Tsar Nicholas II asking that Jessen and the Gromoboi be allowed to accompany him to Sydney as an honour escort; a request which was approved.
British financial and political support for the Japan
ese during the Russo-Japanese War
in 1904–1905 caused disagreement with the British foreign policy in Australia. The authorities in Australia were concerned that the Japanese military
posed a threat to the national security
of the country, and the fear existed even when Japan was an ally of the Entente Powers in World War I
. During the war, as a member of the British Empire
, Australia was allied with Russia.
of 1917 in Russia, which led to the abdication
of Tsar Nicholas II
, the Consul-General of Russia for the Commonwealth of Australia and for the Dominion of New Zealand
, Alexander Abaza, expressed his support for the Russian Provisional Government
and was instrumental in raising funds to repatriate Russians in Australia
back to Russia after 500 expatriates petitioned Alexander Kerensky
. Abaza wrote to Prime Minister
William Hughes
on 24 December 1917: "During whatever time I may act here nominally as Consul-General for Russia I shall only represent those of my people who are absolutely faithful to the Allies." Australia saw the Bolshevik signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
with Germany after the October Revolution
to be an act of treachery towards the Allies, and put a halt to migration from Australia to Russia. With the onset of the Russian Civil War
, British intervention in the war saw many Australians serving in the British army
in the Russian North and Central Asia
in support of the White Army. On Australia Day
(26 January) in 1918, Abaza wrote to the Prime Minister, advising him conditions made his commission in Melbourne untenable, and that he would be resigning as Consul-General as of the following day. His resignation was followed by the resignation of Vice-Consuls in Hobart, Perth
, Darwin, Newcastle, Port Pirie and Melbourne.
In March 1918, after the resignation of Abaza, Peter Simonov presented himself to the Australian government
as the representative of the Bolshevik government in Australia, and asked for recognition as the new Russian Consul. Given the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the murder of Tsar Nicholas II
and his family, he was advised that the Australian government did not recognise the Bolsheviks, and would not recognise him as Consul. Aware of Simonov's connections with Australian left-wing revolutionary groups, the Australian government repeatedly rejected calls for his recognition as the representative of the Soviet Union in Australia, and barred Simonov from teaching Bolshevism politics in Australia; an act for which he was later imprisoned for six months. Michael Considine
, Member of the House of Representatives
for Barrier
assumed the unrecognised role of representative of the Soviets. Anti-Russian sentiment became stronger during this period, and was exemplified by the March 1919 anti-Russian pogroms in Brisbane
, which were dubbed the Red Flag Riots
, and until the United Kingdom's
recognition
of the Soviet Union
in 1924, bilateral relations between Australia and the Soviet Union continued to be de jure non-existent.
On 8 August 1924, the United Kingdom signed the General Treaty with the Soviet Union which extended British diplomatic recognition to the USSR, and was also considered applicable to the British dominions of Canada
, New Zealand
, the Union of South Africa
, the Irish Free State
, Newfoundland
, and Australia. The Nationalist
Prime Minister Stanley Bruce
disputed the nature of the Treaty, saying that self-governing parts of the Empire were not consulted, it did not take into account Australia's rights to sign treaties with foreign countries and it ignored Australia's trade interests. Bruce was also concerned that allegations of the Soviet Union spreading propaganda in Australia, which regarded communism
as a menace, were not addressed. The Treaty was not entered into as a treaty of King George V
on behalf of the Empire, but between two governments, and according to Bruce, Australia was in no way bound by the Treaty, and the Australian Press Association stated that there was initially an unsympathetic view in Australia towards restoring diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Izvestia
reported Ramsay MacDonald
had campaigned for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
on a platform which included restoring ties with the Soviet Union and hence the Soviet Union should seize upon this and "advance conditions and demand guarantees". In July 1929, Bruce sent a communication to MacDonald, acquiescing to the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, provided that Soviet propaganda ceased. It was the opinion of the Australian government that the Soviet Union had been spreading propaganda in Australia, but it was unable to provide specific evidence of this being the case. On 20 and 21 December 1929, notes were exchanged in Moscow
and London
which saw the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom and its Dominions, including Australia. The notes included a pledge by the Soviet Union to refrain from hostile propaganda, which was part of the unratified 1924 Treaty.
, the Labor
government of John Curtin
began to discuss sending a diplomatic delegation
to the Soviet Union. The Congress of Friendship and Aid to the Soviet urged the posting of Australian diplomats in the Soviet Union, and also pushed for exchanging military, air and naval missions between the two countries. HMAS Norman
in October 1941 visited Arkhangelsk
bringing a British trade delegation from Iceland
; marking the beginning of the Lend-Lease
program in support of the Soviet Union. H.V. Evatt, the Australian Minister for External Affairs
on 4 November 1941 wrote in a secret submission to the war cabinet
that the Government had received a large number of representations from interested parties since the outbreak of the Russo-German War
, and that the major views in support of sending a diplomatic delegation to the Soviet Union included the necessity to provide material and moral support to the Soviet Union and to encourage its resistance against the Germans, the sharing of a common interest in policy towards Japan and the Middle East
, and the potential for Australian-Soviet trade, and its importance to the Australian economy.
Whilst Australia's reasons for the exchange of diplomatic missions were known, it was also understood that the Soviet government believed at first that the exchange would serve no great purpose, due to the minimal ties between the two countries, commercial or otherwise. Both countries acknowledged that if relations, particularly trade relations, were to become a reality that diplomatic relations would be required as a formality. Evatt began negotiations with Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov
in London in May 1942, and the 10 October 1942 agreement between the two countries to exchange diplomatic representatives was regarded in Australia as a diplomatic coup; given the Soviet Union's position as a great power
in the Pacific region. The first diplomatic representatives were Andrey Vlasov for the Soviet Union, and William Slater
for Australia. Between August and November/December 1942, Handley Page Hampden
s of the 455th Squadron
of the Royal Australian Air Force
were based near Murmansk
in the Soviet North, where they were involved in protecting convoys bringing supplies to the Soviet Union against attacks by Nazi Germany
. Slater opened the Australian Legation
in Kuybyshev
, the temporary seat of the Soviet government
, on 2 January 1943, and moved to Moscow on 12 August 1943. Vlasov arrived in Canberra on 5 March 1943 to head the Soviet Legation, and presented his Letters of Credence to Governor-General
Lord Gowrie
on 10 March 1943 at Government House
. The Soviet Legation in Canberra was upgraded to Embassy status on 12 July 1945 and the Australian Legation in Moscow was upgraded on 16 February 1948.
By the 1950s Australia was gripped in a red scare
similar to that which led to McCarthyism
in the United States
. Attempts by the Liberal
Prime Minister Robert Menzies
to outlaw the Communist Party of Australia
were overturned in the High Court of Australia
(see Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth
) and defeated at a referendum in 1951
. Members on both sides of the Australian House of Representatives
advocated severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Relations between Australia and the Soviet Union hit a low point when Vladimir Petrov
, the Third Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra, an associate and appointee of Lavrentiy Beria
who feared execution if he returned to the Soviet Union, defected at the end of his three-year assignment on 3 April 1954 with the help of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
and was given political asylum. The defection, which became known as the Petrov Affair
, was disclosed by Menzies on 13 April 1954, the eve of the last day of Parliament before the May federal election
. In his notice to Parliament Menzies disclosed that Petrov was an agent of the MVD and turned over to the Australian authorities details of Soviet intelligence operations
in Australia, and announced intention for a Royal Commission
to investigate Petrov's information, which included allegations of a Soviet fifth column
being created in Australia. The revelations shocked the Australian public, which was more attuned to such things happening overseas. It was also reported that Evdokia Petrova
, Petrov's wife and fellow MVD agent, had decided to stay with the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, and on 14 April, Petrova and Nikolai Generalov, the Soviet ambassador, accused Australian security services of kidnapping Petrov. On 19 April, the affair took another twist when Petrova was being escorted onto a waiting BOAC
Constellation
at Kingsford Smith Airport
by Soviet diplomatic couriers for a flight back to the Soviet Union. William Wentworth took statutory declaration
s from Russian and Czechoslovakia
n anti-communists in the crowd who had stormed the tarmac to prevent Petrova from leaving, that they had heard her say Petrova calling out in Russian
"I do not want to go. Save me", and asked Menzies to make the aircraft stop at Darwin in order to ask Petrova whether she wanted to leave Australia. Contrary to reports, Petrova did not cry out for help at Sydney Airport, but the aircraft did stop at Darwin Airport on a scheduled fuel-stop, enabling Australian security services to interview Petrova. After talking to Reginald Sylvester Leydin, the Government secretary, and to her husband on the phone, Petrova accepted the Australian government's offer of asylum and defected. The Soviets accused the Menzies government of manufacturing the defection of Petrov as an election stunt, ostensibly to boost his support in the upcoming elections, and on 21 April they also levelled against Petrov charges that he had misappropriated Embassy funds. Menzies dismissed the allegations, stating that he was waiting for such charges to be levelled as they were in the Gouzenko
case in Canada
, and also went on to say he believed the charges contradicted the Soviets' initial allegation that Petrov was kidnapped. The Australian government refused to hand over Petrov, who was deemed by the Soviets to be a criminal, and the Soviet government responded on 23 April 1954 by severing diplomatic relations with Australia, which saw the Soviet Embassy in Canberra being recalled and the Australian Embassy in Moscow being expelled. The Soviet decision was not unexpected, as it was thought by the Australian government to have been one possible response, but the swiftness of the decision was said to have shocked government advisers. The severance of diplomatic relations led to rumours that the Soviet Olympic team would not compete at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In the absence of diplomatic relations, the Soviet Union's interests in Australia were represented by Sweden
, and Australia's interests in the Soviet Union were represented by the United Kingdom
.
In aid of Soviet preparations for its commitments to the International Geophysical Year
on 29 August 1955 and in the absence of diplomatic relations, Australia sent the Soviets a note, via the British Embassy in Moscow
, offering facilities in Australia for the use of the Soviets in the instance they were required. Australia wanted to keep the Soviets out of the Antarctic but wanted to avoid international condemnation for going against the spirit of the IGY. The Australians also used the note as a ruse, albeit an unsuccessful one, to force the Soviets to recognise the Australian Antarctic Territory
and hence, Australian claims over parts of the Antarctic. The Lena arrived in Port Adelaide
on 28 March 1956 after its journey to the Antarctic. The Soviets gave free public access to the ship during its stay, and among the first people to visit the ship and meet with the crew was Douglas Mawson
. Australian naval intelligence exploited the situation and sent two civilian agents on board the ship while it was open to the public. It is unknown what information they would have obtained as the scientists on the ship openly shared their knowledge and demonstrated equipment to anybody who was interested, and allowed the public to wander around without obstruction. The Ob arrived in Adelaide on 21 April 1956 and was also visited by Mawson and others within the scientific community in Adelaide. The Ob was invited by the Australia–USSR Friendship Society and the Building Workers' Industrial Union to visit Melbourne and Sydney, respectively, and Mawson lobbied to have the visits go ahead, but permission was denied by Minister of External Affairs
Richard Casey
. The decision was criticised by Mawson, and he made note of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
losing an opportunity to view the latest oceanographic
research technology.
The two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations on 13 March 1959 and it was reported that Australia insisted on screening Soviet diplomatic personnel. The Soviet Embassy in Canberra reopened on 2 June 1959, but the Soviet Union did not have a permanent ambassador until mid-1962. On 7 February 1963 the Australian government declared First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra Ivan Skripov persona non grata
after he was accused by ASIO of being a spy. According to ASIO, Skripov recruited Kay Marshall, an ASIO agent, firstly by giving her small tasks to gauge her suitability as an agent. In December 1962 Skripov gave Marshall a package which she was to give to a contact in Adelaide, but the contact did not meet Marshall as planned. The package, which had already been inspected by ASIO, contained coded transmission timetables for a Soviet radio station, along with a high-speed message sender which could be attached to a radio transmitter. Two months later the Australian government produced photos of meetings between Skripov and Marshall, and sent the embassy a note declaring Skripov persona non grata for "elaborate preparations for espionage" and gave him seven days to leave the country. The Australian government did not divulge what secrets Skripov may have been seeking, but it was reported that workers at the Woomera missile range underwent interrogation. The Soviets responded by stating that the materials released by ASIO proved nothing and were produced to hinder the development of friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Australia, and declared that Ambassador Ivan Kurdyukov
, who was on sick leave in Moscow, would not return to Australia.
détente
, relations between Australia and the Soviet Union were seen as stronger during the Whitlam
government. On 3 July 1974, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, as Acting Foreign Minister, took the decision to grant de jure recognition of the incorporation of Estonia
, Latvia
and Lithuania
into the USSR. The Australian ambassador to Moscow visited Tallinn, Estonia, on 28–30 July 1974, effectively according de jure recognition. Soviet authorities subsequently leaked this information on 3 August 1974, confirmed by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a day later. Whitlam had neither informed nor consulted with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Willesee
, who had been absent abroad, the Cabinet, Caucus, nor Parliament. In taking this controversial decision Whitlam also reneged on pre-election commitments made in correspondences to organizations representing emigrees from all three Baltic nations. Willesee, who upon his return supported Whitlam's decision and subsequently confirmed Whitlam's decision as "unilateral," was eventually censured by the Australian Parliament on 18 September 1974for his part: "That the Minister for Foreign Affairs is deserving of censure and ought to resign because: in breach of a clear undertaking to the contrary given by the Prime Minister the Government shamefully and furtively extended recognition to the incorporation of the Baltic States in the U.S.S.R., the Minister withholding any announcement or explanation of the decision." During Question Time
in October 1974, Whitlam explained his decision to recognise the de jure incorporation the Baltic states
into the Soviet Union was one which did not imply approval of the way in which former states were incorporated, but an acknowledgement of existing realities at the time. Whitlam, ascribed by his political opposition as "want[ing] a good response when he visits Russia", became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit Moscow in January 1975. Whitlam was not received by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Leonid Brezhnev
, who for "reasons of health" was unable to meet him, but instead by Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman
of the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR. During Whitlam's visit to the USSR, two agreements were signed between the two countries on 15 January 1975: the Agreement on scientific-technical cooperation between the USSR and Australia and the Agreement on cultural cooperation between the USSR and Australia. Following the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 and the resultant election
which saw the installation of a conservative Liberal
-Country Party
coalition government under the leadership of Malcolm Fraser
, recognition of the incorporation of the three Baltic states by the Soviet Union was rescinded by Australia in December 1975, and relations became more pragmatic.
In April 1983, ASIO
provided information to the Australian government concerning First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Canberra Valery Ivanov
. According to ASIO, Ivanov had formed a friendship with former national secretary of the Australian Labor Party David Combe
. Bill Hayden
, the Australian Foreign Minister, stated that he hoped Ivanov's expulsion would serve as an example to those who were to "work against Australia's interests". The Soviet Embassy responded by denying all charges and called the allegations "far-fetched". The Combe–Ivanov Affair was subject to a Royal Commission
presided over by Robert Marsden Hope
, which saw Prime Minister Bob Hawke
giving evidence for 20 consecutive sitting days.
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
arrived in Leningrad
on 30 November 1987 for discussion on economics, trade and foreign policy with Mikhail Gorbachev
. During the visit, Hawke gave the names of Soviet Jews who wished to leave the Soviet Union to Gorbachev, and on 4 December 1987, 60 to 75 Jews were given permission to leave the country.
On 26 December 1991, Australia recognised Russia as the successor state of the Soviet Union after the dissolution of the latter
. Russia has an embassy in Canberra and a consulate-general in Sydney, and Australia has an embassy in Moscow
. The current Ambassador of Russia to Australia is Alexander Viktorovich Blokhin, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin
on 10 November 2005. The current Ambassador of Australia to Russia is Margaret Twomey
, who presented her credentials to President Dmitry Medvedev
on 18 September 2008.
on Christmas Island
, an Australian territory
in the Indian Ocean
. The project also saw the involvement of S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
, TsSKB-Progress
and the Barmin General Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau. In aid of the project, the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Field of the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes was signed in Canberra on 23 May 2001, replacing the Agreement between the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of Australia on Cooperation in the Field of Exploration and the Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes of 1 December 1987, and import tax and other concessions were made by the Australian government. Co-operation in space was on the agenda when Alexander Downer met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
in February 2002, where the Australian side pressed the Russians to complete work on two technical agreements which were needed in order for the Christmas Island spaceport project to proceed. In June 2002 it was reported that the Russian Federal Space Agency
had pulled out of the deal, to instead develop a relationship with ArianeSpace
with the view to using the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou
in French Guiana
.
In September 2007 President Vladimir Putin became the first encumbent Russian leader to visit Australia for the APEC summit
in Sydney. On 7 September 2007, head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer
, in the presence of Prime Minister
John Howard
and President Putin, signed the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes, superseding the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy which was concluded on 15 February 1990. The 1990 Agreement only allowed Russia to enrich
uranium
on behalf of third countries and the 2007 Agreement allowed for enriching of uranium for use in Russia's civilian nuclear power industry
. Putin dismissed suggestions that Russia would use Australia-supplied uranium for nuclear weapons or military purposes, and explained that Russia has an "excessive supply" of weapons-grade uranium and the State has plans to build 30 nuclear power stations by 2022, and that the Agreement with Australia was purely one of economics. Under the deal, Australia could supply Russia with US$1 billion worth of uranium, and Kiriyenko stated that Russia is ready to process 4,000 tonnes of Australian uranium.
The agreement was put into doubt after the August 2008 war in South Ossetia
and Russia's subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states
. Stephen Smith
, the Australian Foreign Minister, told Sky News Australia
in November 2008 that ratification of the agreement would see Australia reviewing Russia's involvement in Georgia
, Abkhazia
and South Ossetia
, and also by taking into account the state of bilateral relations between the two countries. After Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 26 August 2008, Stephen Smith summoned the Russian ambassador, Alexander Blokhin, to inform him that Russia's recognition was not helpful for the situation in the region, while Blokhin informed the Australian Foreign Minister that Russia was left with no choice but to recognise the independence of the two regions. Blaming Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
for the conflict, Blokhin told The Age that the Russians were not the aggressors, but rather the peacekeepers. Rory Medcalft, a strategic analyst with the Lowy Institute, stated that Australia could use the uranium deal to apply pressure on Moscow, but in doing so it risked sending messages to countries such as China that it is an unreliable supplier, which would in turn hurt Australian interests.
forum. Simon Crean
, the Australian Minister for Trade
stated in October 2008 that Australia supports Russia's application to join the World Trade Organization
. Russia applied for entry into the organisation in 1993, and says that the United States and European Union
have placed unreasonable demands for it to accede to the organisation, although the United States and the European Union blame Russia for delays in its entry.
, Ian Macfarlane
, the Australian Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources
, estimated that Russian investment in Australia was worth between A$5 and 6 billion. The acquisition by RusAl of a 20% stake in Queensland Alumina was approved by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board in February 2005. RusAl purchased the stake from Kaiser Aluminum
in October 2004, in a deal which was valued at US$461 million. The investment by RusAl was the first large-scale Russian investment in the Australian economy. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
, headed by Viktor Rashnikov, increased its stake in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group
from 4.71 percent to 5.37 in August 2007, and the following month advised the Australian Government it wished to increase its stake, with a potential value of A$1.5 billion. It is expected by the 2050, the 2.7 billion people of the BRIC
countries—Brazil
, Russia, India
and People's Republic of China
—will treble consumption of steel, which will require steel production to double from 2007 limits. Alan Carpenter
, the Premier of Western Australia
, welcomed Russian investment in his state's economy
, telling Lateline Business
, "[t]he more we can get from international investment to deliberate the potential of Western Australia's economy, the better". In April 2008, Carpenter became the first Western Australian Premier to visit Russia, when he headed a trade delegation for a five day trip to the country to court more Russian investment in the state.
from Australia in 2008, while its exports to Australia were valued at US$82 million, bringing the total to US$1,111 billion. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, trade with Australia accounted for 0.2% of all Russian foreign trade in 2008.
Russian warship Neva
Neva was a Russian sloop-of-war, bought in Britain. It was named after the Neva River.It was the first Russian ship to circumnavigate the globe in 1804 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Yuri Lisyansky...
arrived in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
as part of its circumnavigation of the globe. Consular relations between Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
were established in 1857. Diplomatic relations between Australia and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
were established in 1942, and the first Australian embassy opened in 1943.
1803–1888
Peter the Great was familiar with New HollandNew Holland (Australia)
New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....
through his connections with the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and the Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in the 18th century tried several times, unsuccessfully, to reach the Australian continent.
Contacts between Russia and Australia date back to 1803, when Secretary of State for the Colonies
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
Lord Hobart
Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire
Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire PC , styled Lord Hobart from 1793 to 1804, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th century.-Background:...
wrote to Governor of New South Wales Philip Gidley King
Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
in relation to the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe by Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern , was an admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe.- Life :...
and Yuri Lisyansky
Yuri Lisyansky
Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and explorer of Ukrainian origin....
. As the Russian and British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
empires were allies in the war against Napoleon
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, the Russian warship Neva
Russian warship Neva
Neva was a Russian sloop-of-war, bought in Britain. It was named after the Neva River.It was the first Russian ship to circumnavigate the globe in 1804 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Yuri Lisyansky...
, with Captain Ludwig von Hagemeister at the helm, was able to sail into Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
on 16 June 1807. Hagemeister and the ship's officers were extended the utmost courtesy by Governor William Bligh
William Bligh
Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...
, with the Governor inviting the Russians to Government House for dinner and a ball. This was the beginning of personal contacts between Russians and Australians, and Russian ships would continue to visit Australian shores, particularly as a stop on their way to supplying the Empire's North American colonies. The Suvorov commanded by Captain Mikhail Lazarev spent twenty-two days in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in 1814, when it brought news of Napoleon's
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
defeat, and this was followed up by the 1820 visit of the Otkrytiye and Blagonamerenny. In 1820, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral...
and Mikhail Vasilyev arrived in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, on board Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
research ships Vostok and Mirny, under the command of Mikhail Lazarev. Bellingshausen returned to Sydney after discovering Antarctica, spending the winter at the invitation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
. Macquarie played the greatest role in the expression of Russophilia
Russophilia
Russophilia is the love of Russia and/or Russians. The term is used in two basic contexts: in international politics and in cultural context. "Russophilia" and "Russophilic" are the terms used to denote pro-Russian sentiments, usually in politics and literature...
in the Colony, ensuring that the Russian visitors were made to feel welcome. While in Sydney, Bellingshausen collected information on the colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
, which he published in Russia as Short Notes on the Colony of New South Wales. He wrote that Schmidt, a naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
who was attached to the Lazarev expedition
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, discovered gold near Hartley
Hartley, New South Wales
Hartley is a historical village in New South Wales, Australia, in the City of Lithgow, located approximately 150 kilometres west of Sydney. It is below the western escarpment of the Blue Mountains....
, making him the first person to discover gold in Australia. While in Sydney, on 27 March 1820, officials from the colony were invited on board the Vostok to celebrate Orthodox Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, marking the first time that a Russian Orthodox service was held in the Australian Colonies.
Although Russia and Britain were allies against Napoleon, the taking of Paris in 1814
Battle of Paris (1814)
The Battle of Paris was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. The French defeat led directly to the abdication of Napoleon I.-Background:...
by the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
caused consternation with the British in relation to Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Alexander's
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
intention of expanding Russian influence which would compete with Britain's own imperialistic ambitions. Further visits to the New South Wales colony in 1823 by the Rurik
Rurik (ship)
At least three ships of the Imperial Russian Navy have been named Rurik afterRurik, the semi-legendary founder of ancient Russia.* Rurik - frigate served in the Crimean War* Rurik - armoured cruiser sunk at the Battle of Ulsan...
and the Apollon, along with the 1824 visits by the Ladoga and Kreiser, caused concern with the colony authorities, who reported their concerns to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1825 and 1828, the Elena visited Australia followed by the Krotky in 1829, the Amerika in 1831 and 1835. Visits by Russian ships became so common in Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove
Sydney Cove is a small bay on the southern shore of Port Jackson , on the coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia....
that their place of mooring near Neutral Bay
Neutral Bay, New South Wales
Neutral Bay is a harbourside suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is located 5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council....
became known as Russian Point, which added to the sense of alarm in the Colonies. By the late 1830s, relations between Russia and Britain
Russia–United Kingdom relations
Russia–United Kingdom relations is the bilateral relationship between the countries of Russia and the United Kingdom and their predecessor states. Spanning nearly five centuries, it has often switched from a state of alliance to rivalry...
had deteriorated, and in 1841 the Government of New South Wales
Government of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
decided to establish fortification at Pinchgut in order to repel a feared Russian invasion. Fortifications at Queenscliff
Queenscliff, Victoria
Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe...
, Portsea
Portsea, Victoria
Portsea is a resort town located across Port Phillip from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula....
, and Mud Islands
Mud Islands
The Mud Islands reserve is located within Port Phillip, about 90 km south-west of Melbourne, Australia, lying 10 km inside Port Phillip Heads, 7 km north of Portsea and 9 km east of Queenscliff. The land area of about 50 ha is made up of three low-lying islands surrounding a shallow tidal 35 ha...
in Melbourne's
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
Port Philip Bay followed, as did similar structures on the Tamar River near Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
and on the banks of the Derwent River at Sandy Bay
Sandy Bay, Tasmania
Sandy Bay is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, located immediately south of the central business district.The suburb is home to many large homes, and adjoins the waterfront Salamanca area and Battery Point. The suburb is known as one of the city's prestigious areas...
and Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
. As Australia was engaged in a gold rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
in the 1840s and 1850s, in conjunction with the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
between the UK and Russia, paranoia of a Russian invasion gripped the Colony, and Russophobia
Russophobia
Russophobia refers to a diverse spectrum of prejudices, dislikes or fears of Russia, Russians, or Russian culture. Its opposite is Russophilia....
increased. In 1855, the Colony built fortifications around Admiralty House
Admiralty House, Sydney
Admiralty House is the official Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia. It is located in the suburb of Kirribilli, on the northern foreshore of Sydney Harbour . This large, Italianate, sandstone mansion occupies the tip of Kirribilli Point...
and completed Fort Denison on Pinchgut Island, as the emergence of the Pacific Ocean Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
furthered the fear of a Russian invasion of the Colonies, and rumours spread that the Russians had invaded the Port of Melbourne
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest port for containerised and general cargo. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phillip, as well as several piers on the bay itself...
. Inflows of Russians and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
-speaking immigrants which began to increase in the 1850s, and the nature of friendly relations between Russian and Australian representatives, led to the appointment of two Russian honorary consuls in 1857; James Damyon in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and EM Paul in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Seven years after the conclusion of the Crimean War, the Russian corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
, and flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Russian Pacific squadron, Bogatyr visited Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Sydney in 1863. The corvette visited the cities on a navigational drill under the Commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet Read Admiral Andrey Alexandrovich Popov, and the ship and crew were welcomed with warmth. Popov paid Governor of Victoria Henry Barkly
Henry Barkly
Sir Henry Barkly, GCMG, KCB, FRS, FRGS was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences.-Early life and education:...
and Governor of New South Wales John Young
John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar
John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, Bt, GCB, GCMG, PC was the second Governor General of Canada, in office from 1869 to 1872.-Biography:...
protocol
Protocol (politics)
Protocol can mean any logbook or other artifact of a political meeting between persons from different nations, such as the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The most notorious example of a forged logbook is "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"....
visits, and they in turn visited the Russian ship. The Russians opened the ship for public visitation in Melbourne, and more than 8,000 Australians visited the ship over a period of several days. The goodwill visit was a success, but the Bogatyr's appearance in Melbourne did put the city on a war footing, as noted in The Argus
The Argus (Australia)
The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
which reported that the ship managed to approach Melbourne unnoticed, ostensibly due to the lack of naval forces in Port Phillip Bay. After the Bogatyr had left the Colony, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on 7 April 1863 that the crew of the ship had engaged in topographical surveys of the Port Jackson and Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
areas, which included investigating coastal fortifications, but this did not raise any eyebrows at the time.
Anti-Russian sentiment began to take hold in the Australian media
Media in Austria
-General:German magazines and TV stations have affected the development of Austria since their foundation. Because German TV stations broadcast by satellite, it is possible to receive them throughout Austria as well.-Broadsheet:...
in November 1864 after the publication by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in London of an article which asserted that the Colonies were on the edge of a Russian invasion. The article, published on 17 September 1864, stated that Rear Admiral Popov received instructions from the Russian Naval Minister to raid Melbourne in the event there was a Russo-English war, but noted that such a plan was unlikely due to its perception of the Russian forces being inadequate for such an attack. Australian newspapers, including The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
and Argus, took The Times claims more seriously and began to write on the need to increase defence capabilities to protect against the threat of a Russian invasion. On 11 May 1870, the corvette Boyarin appeared at the Derwent River and rumours spread in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
that a Russian invasion was almost a certainty. The reason for the appearance of the Russian warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
was humanitarian in nature; the ship's purser
Purser
The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...
was ill and Captain Serkov gained permission to hospitalise Grigory Belavin and remain in port for two weeks to replenish supplies and give the crew opportunity for some shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave is the leave that professional sailors get to spend on dry land. It is culturally infamous for its excess. Sailors without family obligations and with basic lodging needs provided aboard ship may spend their wages for the journey in a brief period of extravagance ashore and return to...
. The ship's officers were guests at the Governor's Ball held in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria, and The Mercury
The Mercury (Hobart)
The Mercury is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd, part of News Limited and News Corporation...
noted that the officers were gallant and spoke three languages including English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. The following day a parade was held, and the crew of the Boyarin raised the Union Jack on its mast and fired a 21-gun salute
21-gun salute
Gun salutes are the firing of cannons or firearms as a military or naval honor.The custom stems from naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent...
in honour to the British queen. This was reciprocated by the town garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
which raised the Russian Naval flag of Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
and fired a salute in honour of Tsar Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. After the death of Belavin, permission was given to bury him on shore, and his funeral saw the attendance of thousands of Hobart residents, and the locals donated funds to provide for a headstone on his grave. In gratitude of the welcome and care given by the Hobart citizenry, Captain Serkov presented the city with two mortars from the ship, which still stand at the entrance to the Anglesea Barracks. When the Boyarin left Hobart on 12 June, a military band onshore played God Save the Tsar, and the ship's crew replied by playing God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
.
Although the visits of Russian ships were of a friendly nature, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was seen by Britain as part of a potential expansion plan by the Russian Empire into India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and the Australian colonies were advised to upgrade their defence capabilities. The inadequacy of defences in the colony was seen in 1862, when the Svetlana sailed into Port Phillip Bay and the fort built had no gunpowder for its cannons to use to return a salute. William Jervois
William Jervois
Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, GCMG, CB was a British military engineer who saw service, as Second Captain, in South Africa...
, a Royal Engineer
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
, was commissioned to determine the defence capabilities of all colonies, with the exception of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. In his report, he was convinced that the Russian Empire would to attack South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n shipping in an attempt to destroy the local economy. As a result of Jervois' report, Fort Glanville and Fort Largs were built to protect Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide lying about 14 kilometres northwest of the City of Adelaide. It lies within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and is the main port for the city of Adelaide...
. The "Russian threat" and Russophobia continued to permeate in Australian society, and were instrumental in the decision to build Australia's first true warships, the HMS Acheron and HMS Avernus, in 1879.
The Melbourne-based Epoch re-ignited fears of a Russia invasion when three Russian ships—the Afrika, Vestnik, and Platon—were sighted near Port Philip in January 1882. Despite the hysteria generated by the media in Melbourne, no invasion ensued. David Syme
David Syme
David Syme was a Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of The Age and regarded as "the father of protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victoria.-Early life and family:...
, the proprietor of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, wrote in a series of editorials that the visit of the three ships was associated with a war that was threatening to engulf Britain and Russia, and that the squadron under the command of Avraamy Aslanbegov was in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
in order to raid British commerce. Newspapers wrote that Admiral Aslanbegov behaved like a varnished barbarian due to his non-acceptance of invitations, and because he preferred to stay at the Menzies Hotel, rather than the Melbourne Club
Melbourne Club
The Melbourne Club is a male only club, established in 1839 and located at 36-50 Collins Street, Melbourne; adjacent to the women-only Lyceum Club. The club is made up of approximately 1500 members; admission being by invitation only...
or the Australian Club
Australian Club
The Australian Club is a private club founded in 1838 and located in Sydney at 165 Macquarie Street. Its membership is men-only and it's the oldest gentlemen's club in the southern hemisphere...
. Aslanbegov was accused of spying and fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, leading to the Admiral complaining to the Premier of Victoria Bryan O'Loghlen
Bryan O'Loghlen
Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, 3rd Baronet , Australian colonial politician, was the 13th Premier of Victoria.-Biography:...
and threatening legal action against the newspaper. John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley KG , PC , known as the Lord Wodehouse from 1846 to 1866, was a British Liberal politician...
, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
, defused the situation when he sent a telegraph to the government stating that relations with Russia are of a friendly character, and such newspaper reports are rendered incredible. Due to the fears of an invasion, Fort Scratchley
Fort Scratchley
Fort Scratchley is a former coastal defence installation and now museum, located in Newcastle East, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. However, its guns were not fired in anger until 8 June 1942, during the...
in Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
was completed by 1885.
Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai
Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai
Nicholay Miklouho-Maclay was a Russian ethnologist, anthropologist and biologist of Ukrainian, German and Polish descent.- Ancestry and early years :...
after conducting ethnographic research in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
since 1871 moved to the Australian Colonies in 1878, where he worked on William John Macleay
William John Macleay
Sir William John Macleay . was an Australian politician, zoologist and naturalist.-Early life:Macleay was born at Wick, Caithness, Scotland, second son of Kenneth Macleay of Keiss and his wife Barbara, née Horne...
's zoological collection in Sydney and set up Australia's first marine biological
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
station in 1881. Since 1883 he advocated setting up a Russian protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
on the Maclay Coast in New Guinea, and noted his ideas of Russian expansionism in letters to those in power in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. In a letter he wrote to N. V. Kopylov in 1883, he noted there was a mood of expansionism in Australia, particularly towards New Guinea and the islands in Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. He also wrote to Tsar Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
in December 1883 that due to the lack of a Russian sphere of influence
Sphere of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
and English domination in the region, there was a threat to Russian supremacy in the North Pacific. This view was mirrored in a letter to Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Konstantin Petrovich Pobyedonostsyev was a Russian jurist, statesman, and adviser to three Tsars...
, and he expressed his willingness to provide assistance in pursuing Russian interests in the region. Nicholas de Giers
Nicholas de Giers
Nicholas de Giers was a Russian Foreign Minister during the reign of Alexander III. He was one of the architects of the Franco-Russian Alliance, which was later transformed into the Triple Entente.- Biography :...
, the Russian Foreign Minister, suggested in reports to the Tsar that relations with Miklukho-Maklai should be maintained because of his familiarity with political and military issues in the region, while not advising him of any plans on the Government's plans for the region. This opinion was mirrored by the Naval Ministry. In total, three reports were sent to Russia by Miklukho-Maklai, containing information on the growth of anti-Russian sentiment and the buildup of the military in Australia, which correlated with the worsening of Anglo-Russian relations. Noting the establishment of coal bunkers and the fortifying of ports in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, he advocated taking over Port Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, Thursday Island, Newcastle, and Albany
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
, noting their insufficient fortification. The Foreign Ministry considered a Russian colony in the Pacific as unlikely and military notes of the reports were only partially utilised by the Naval Ministry. The authorities in Russia appraised his reports, and in December 1886 de Giers officially advised Miklukho-Maklai that his request for the establishment of a Russian colony had been declined.
1888–1917
Paranoia of a Russian invasion subsided in 1888, when Grand Duke Alexander MikhailovichGrand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexander Mihailovich of Russia, Александр Михайлович Aleksandr Mihailovits was a dynast of the Russian Empire, a naval officer, an author, explorer, the brother-in-law of Emperor Nicholas II, and an advisor of the said Emperor.-Biography: Alexander was born the son of Grand Duke...
arrived in the Colony on board the corvette Rynda as part of celebrations of the Colonial centenary. The Rynda pulled into Newcaste in the afternoon of 19 January 1888 to replenish coal supplies, becoming the first Russian naval visitor to the city. The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate reported on 20 January 1888 that given the uncertain state of diplomatic relations between the European powers many people fled fearing that the Russian warship was present in Newcastle to start a war; however, those fears were quickly allayed when the goodwill nature of the visit became known. From Newcastle, the Rynda sailed to Sydney. The day after arrival Lord Carrington
Robert Wynn Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire
Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire KG, GCMG, PC, DL, JP , known as the Lord Carrington from 1868 to 1895 and as the Earl Carrington from 1895 to 1912, was a British Liberal politician and aristocrat.-Background and education:Born at Whitehall, London, Lincolnshire was the...
, the Governor of New South Wales, sent a coach to bring the Grand Duke to Government House
Government House, Sydney
Government House is located in Sydney, Australia alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House...
. He was unable to attend due to laws of the Russian Empire which prohibited participation in State ceremonies of foreign states. The Russian officers attended Government House on 24 January as the guest of Lady Carrington. The HMS Nelson was late arriving in Sydney and on 26 January, the day of celebrations, the Rynda orchestra was invited to entertain the public, and the Australian media made the Grand Duke the central focus of the events. On 30 January the Russian officers were present at the ceremony of the foundation of the new parliament building
Parliament House, Sydney
Parliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian building, the oldest public building in the City of...
. One hundred seamen from the Rynda were invited to a festival organised by the citizens of Sydney on 31 January, and the Russian
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
and French flags were given prominence next to the Australian flag, whilst those of other nations were along the walls. Denoting the goodwill nature of the visit, Lord Carrington in a speech said, "We welcome into the waters of Port Jackson the gallant ship Rynda, we welcome the gallant sailors who sail under the blue cross of Saint Andrew, and we especially welcome — though we are not permitted to do so in official manner – that distinguished officer who is on board, a close blood-relation of his Majesty the Tsar
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
. Though not permitted to offer him an official welcome, we offer him a right royal welcome with all our hearts." The Rynda left Sydney on 9 February and arrived in Melbourne on 12 February. The visit was initially reported positively in the press, but after a few days The Age began to campaign for restricting the entry of foreign naval ships into Melbourne, and other articles described the expected war between "semi-barbarous and despotic Russia" and England. The public, however, continued to view the presence of the Russians positively, and on 22 February the Mayor of Melbourne Benjamin Benjamin
Benjamin Benjamin
Sir Benjamin Benjamin JP was an Australian businessman and politician.-Early life and education:Benjamin was born in London on 2 September 1834 to Moses Benjamin and Catherine Benjamin, née Moses. His family left for Australia in 1843 on a boat named London...
visited the ships. After staying for nearly a month, the Rynda left Melbourne on 6 March for New Zealand. The Grand Duke
Grand Duke
The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
supported expanding trade ties with Australia, noting that it was desirable for the Russians to expand their ties with Australia, outside of their relationship with Britain, and stated his belief that such relations were long overdue.
In 1890, the Government
Government of Russia
The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister , the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers...
in Saint Petersburg concluded Anglo-Russian relations in the Pacific to have become important enough to appoint a career diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
to represent Russian interests in the Australian Colonies. When John Jamison, the Russian honorary consul in Melbourne, went bankrupt and was no longer able to represent Russia's interests, the Russian government appointed Alexey Poutyata as the first Imperial Russian Consul to the Colonies on 14 July 1893, and he arrived with his family in Melbourne on 13 December 1893. Poutyata was an effective Consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
and his reports were well read in Saint Petersburg. His efforts at encouraging Australian manufacturers and merchants to attend the All-Russia Exhibition 1896
All-Russia exhibition 1896
The All-Russia industrial and art exhibition 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod was held from May 28 till October 1 , 1896. The 1896 exhibition was the biggest pre-revolution exhibition in Russian Empire and was organized with the money allotted by Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia...
in Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
were instrumental in the signing of commercial contracts between Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n merchants and manufacturers in Russia. Poutyata died of kidney failure following complications from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
a little over a year after his arrival in Australia on 16 December 1894, which saw Robert Ungern von Sternberg being appointed to replace him at the end of 1895. Nikolai Matyunin, who replaced Sternberg as Consul in 1898, signed an agreement with Dalgety Australia Ltd
Dalgety plc
Dalgety plc was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
, which enabled Russian cargo ships to carry the company's pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
products back to Europe.
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Duchess of York
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
would be visiting Australia for the opening of the Australian Federal Parliament in 1901, whereupon it was viewed as necessary to send a Russian naval vessel, and the Gromoboi
Russian cruiser Gromoboi (1899)
Gromoboi was an armoured cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy built in the late 1890s. She was designed as a long-range commerce raider and served as such during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05...
, captained by Karl Jessen, was ordered to divert to Melbourne on . On , the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Lambsdorff
Vladimir Lambsdorff
Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf was a Russian statesman of Baltic German descent who served as Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire from 1900 1906, a crucial period which included the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution of 1905.- Early career :Like so many other Russian diplomats,...
wrote to the Naval Minister, advising him that sending a ship was not a political act but one of diplomatic etiquette. Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
viewed that "[i]t is desirable to send a cruiser". The Gromoboi arrived in Melbourne, after a call in Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, on 30 April 1901. The Russian Empire was represented at the opening of the first Australian Parliament on 1 May 1901 by Russian consul Nicolai Passek, who was based in Melbourne since the approval of his appointment by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
on 24 March 1900. The Duke of York visited the Gromoboi and was impressed by the cruiser, and he sent a request to Tsar Nicholas II asking that Jessen and the Gromoboi be allowed to accompany him to Sydney as an honour escort; a request which was approved.
British financial and political support for the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese during the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
in 1904–1905 caused disagreement with the British foreign policy in Australia. The authorities in Australia were concerned that the Japanese military
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
posed a threat to the national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
of the country, and the fear existed even when Japan was an ally of the Entente Powers in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. During the war, as a member of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, Australia was allied with Russia.
1917–1941
After the February RevolutionFebruary Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
of 1917 in Russia, which led to the abdication
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
of Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
, the Consul-General of Russia for the Commonwealth of Australia and for the Dominion of New Zealand
Dominion of New Zealand
The Dominion of New Zealand is the former name of the Realm of New Zealand.Originally administered from New South Wales, New Zealand became a direct British colony in 1841 and received a large measure of self-government following the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852...
, Alexander Abaza, expressed his support for the Russian Provisional Government
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
and was instrumental in raising funds to repatriate Russians in Australia
Russians in Australia
The first Russian citizen known to have become a permanent resident of Australia was John Potocki, who landed in Hobart, Tasmania on 18 February 1804. Potocki, arrested in England, was sentenced to hard labor in Tasmania. According to Potocki's own account, recorded by captain Lazarev in 1820, he...
back to Russia after 500 expatriates petitioned Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
. Abaza wrote to Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
William Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
on 24 December 1917: "During whatever time I may act here nominally as Consul-General for Russia I shall only represent those of my people who are absolutely faithful to the Allies." Australia saw the Bolshevik signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
with Germany after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
to be an act of treachery towards the Allies, and put a halt to migration from Australia to Russia. With the onset of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, British intervention in the war saw many Australians serving in the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in the Russian North and Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
in support of the White Army. On Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
(26 January) in 1918, Abaza wrote to the Prime Minister, advising him conditions made his commission in Melbourne untenable, and that he would be resigning as Consul-General as of the following day. His resignation was followed by the resignation of Vice-Consuls in Hobart, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Darwin, Newcastle, Port Pirie and Melbourne.
In March 1918, after the resignation of Abaza, Peter Simonov presented himself to the Australian government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
as the representative of the Bolshevik government in Australia, and asked for recognition as the new Russian Consul. Given the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the murder of Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
and his family, he was advised that the Australian government did not recognise the Bolsheviks, and would not recognise him as Consul. Aware of Simonov's connections with Australian left-wing revolutionary groups, the Australian government repeatedly rejected calls for his recognition as the representative of the Soviet Union in Australia, and barred Simonov from teaching Bolshevism politics in Australia; an act for which he was later imprisoned for six months. Michael Considine
Michael Considine
Michael Patrick Considine was an Irish-born Australian politician and unionist. He represented the seat of Barrier in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922. A controversial figure, Considine was pressured to resign from the Australian Labor Party...
, Member of the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
for Barrier
Division of Barrier
The Division of Barrier was an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was named for the Barrier Range near the city of Broken Hill in western New South Wales...
assumed the unrecognised role of representative of the Soviets. Anti-Russian sentiment became stronger during this period, and was exemplified by the March 1919 anti-Russian pogroms in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, which were dubbed the Red Flag Riots
Red Flag Riots
The Red Flag Riots were a series of violent demonstrations and attacks that occurred in Queensland, Australia over the course of 1918–19. The attacks were largely undertaken by returned soldiers from the First Australian Imperial Force and were focused upon socialists and other elements of society...
, and until the United Kingdom's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
recognition
Diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1924, bilateral relations between Australia and the Soviet Union continued to be de jure non-existent.
On 8 August 1924, the United Kingdom signed the General Treaty with the Soviet Union which extended British diplomatic recognition to the USSR, and was also considered applicable to the British dominions of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
, the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
, Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
, and Australia. The Nationalist
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
Prime Minister Stanley Bruce
Stanley Bruce
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
disputed the nature of the Treaty, saying that self-governing parts of the Empire were not consulted, it did not take into account Australia's rights to sign treaties with foreign countries and it ignored Australia's trade interests. Bruce was also concerned that allegations of the Soviet Union spreading propaganda in Australia, which regarded communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
as a menace, were not addressed. The Treaty was not entered into as a treaty of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
on behalf of the Empire, but between two governments, and according to Bruce, Australia was in no way bound by the Treaty, and the Australian Press Association stated that there was initially an unsympathetic view in Australia towards restoring diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Izvestia
Izvestia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
reported Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
had campaigned for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
on a platform which included restoring ties with the Soviet Union and hence the Soviet Union should seize upon this and "advance conditions and demand guarantees". In July 1929, Bruce sent a communication to MacDonald, acquiescing to the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, provided that Soviet propaganda ceased. It was the opinion of the Australian government that the Soviet Union had been spreading propaganda in Australia, but it was unable to provide specific evidence of this being the case. On 20 and 21 December 1929, notes were exchanged in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
which saw the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom and its Dominions, including Australia. The notes included a pledge by the Soviet Union to refrain from hostile propaganda, which was part of the unratified 1924 Treaty.
1941–1963
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government of John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
began to discuss sending a diplomatic delegation
Diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
to the Soviet Union. The Congress of Friendship and Aid to the Soviet urged the posting of Australian diplomats in the Soviet Union, and also pushed for exchanging military, air and naval missions between the two countries. HMAS Norman
HMAS Norman (G49)
HMAS Norman was an N class operated by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. Entering service in 1941, the ship was on loan from the Royal Navy....
in October 1941 visited Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
bringing a British trade delegation from Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
; marking the beginning of the Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
program in support of the Soviet Union. H.V. Evatt, the Australian Minister for External Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
on 4 November 1941 wrote in a secret submission to the war cabinet
War Cabinet
A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members....
that the Government had received a large number of representations from interested parties since the outbreak of the Russo-German War
Great Patriotic War (term)
The term Great Patriotic War , Velíkaya Otéchestvennaya voyná,) is used in Russia and some other states of the former Soviet Union to describe the portion of World War II from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945, against Nazi Germany and its allies in the many fronts of Soviet-German war.-History:The term...
, and that the major views in support of sending a diplomatic delegation to the Soviet Union included the necessity to provide material and moral support to the Soviet Union and to encourage its resistance against the Germans, the sharing of a common interest in policy towards Japan and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and the potential for Australian-Soviet trade, and its importance to the Australian economy.
Whilst Australia's reasons for the exchange of diplomatic missions were known, it was also understood that the Soviet government believed at first that the exchange would serve no great purpose, due to the minimal ties between the two countries, commercial or otherwise. Both countries acknowledged that if relations, particularly trade relations, were to become a reality that diplomatic relations would be required as a formality. Evatt began negotiations with Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
in London in May 1942, and the 10 October 1942 agreement between the two countries to exchange diplomatic representatives was regarded in Australia as a diplomatic coup; given the Soviet Union's position as a great power
Great power
A great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength and diplomatic and cultural influence which may cause small powers to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions...
in the Pacific region. The first diplomatic representatives were Andrey Vlasov for the Soviet Union, and William Slater
Bill Slater (politician)
-Early life:Slater is believed to have been born in 1890. He was born to parents of Irish background. His father left his family when he was four years old. He and two siblings were brought up by his mother in Prahran. After briefly attending Armadale State School Slater left school early to sell...
for Australia. Between August and November/December 1942, Handley Page Hampden
Handley Page Hampden
The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force serving in the Second World War. With the Whitley and Wellington, the Hampden bore the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-plane...
s of the 455th Squadron
No. 455 Squadron RAAF
No. 455 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force torpedo bomber squadron during World War II and became famous as part of the so-called ANZAC Strike Wing.-History:No. 455 Squadron was formed at Williamtown, New South Wales on 23 May 1941...
of the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
were based near Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
in the Soviet North, where they were involved in protecting convoys bringing supplies to the Soviet Union against attacks by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Slater opened the Australian Legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
in Kuybyshev
Samara, Russia
Samara , is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: . The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast...
, the temporary seat of the Soviet government
Government of the Soviet Union
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was the de jure government comprising the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union from 1946 until 1991....
, on 2 January 1943, and moved to Moscow on 12 August 1943. Vlasov arrived in Canberra on 5 March 1943 to head the Soviet Legation, and presented his Letters of Credence to Governor-General
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
Lord Gowrie
Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie VC, GCMG, CB, DSO & Bar, PC was a British soldier and colonial governor and the tenth Governor-General of Australia. Serving for 9 years and 7 days, he is the longest serving Governor-General in Australia's history...
on 10 March 1943 at Government House
Government House, Canberra
Government House, Canberra, commonly known as Yarralumla, is the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla, in the City of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory....
. The Soviet Legation in Canberra was upgraded to Embassy status on 12 July 1945 and the Australian Legation in Moscow was upgraded on 16 February 1948.
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
similar to that which led to McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Attempts by the Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
Prime Minister Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
to outlaw the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
were overturned in the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
(see Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth
Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth
Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth 83 CLR 1, also known as the Communist Party Case, was a legal case in the High Court of Australia described as "undoubtedly one of the High Court's most important decisions."- Background :...
) and defeated at a referendum in 1951
Australian referendum, 1951
The 1951 Australian Referendum was held on 22 September 1951 and sought approval for the federal government to ban the Communist Party of Australia. It was not carried.-Background:...
. Members on both sides of the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
advocated severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Relations between Australia and the Soviet Union hit a low point when Vladimir Petrov
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov (diplomat)
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov was a member of the Soviet Union's clandestine services who became famous in 1954 for his defection to Australia.-Early life:...
, the Third Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra, an associate and appointee of Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
who feared execution if he returned to the Soviet Union, defected at the end of his three-year assignment on 3 April 1954 with the help of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
and was given political asylum. The defection, which became known as the Petrov Affair
Petrov Affair
The Petrov Affair was a dramatic Cold War spy incident in Australia in April 1954, concerning Vladimir Petrov, Third Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra.- History :...
, was disclosed by Menzies on 13 April 1954, the eve of the last day of Parliament before the May federal election
Australian federal election, 1954
Federal elections were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, no Senate election took place...
. In his notice to Parliament Menzies disclosed that Petrov was an agent of the MVD and turned over to the Australian authorities details of Soviet intelligence operations
History of Soviet espionage
Coming to power as a clandestine organization, having been schooled in the secret police tactics of the Czarist Okhrana the new Soviet government of the Soviet Union tended to overestimate the degree to which the other European powers of the day, especially the United Kingdom, were plotting its...
in Australia, and announced intention for a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
to investigate Petrov's information, which included allegations of a Soviet fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
being created in Australia. The revelations shocked the Australian public, which was more attuned to such things happening overseas. It was also reported that Evdokia Petrova
Evdokia Petrova
Evdokia Alexeyevna Petrova was a Russian spy in Australia in the 1950s. She was the wife of Vladimir Petrov, and came to national prominence during the Petrov Affair....
, Petrov's wife and fellow MVD agent, had decided to stay with the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, and on 14 April, Petrova and Nikolai Generalov, the Soviet ambassador, accused Australian security services of kidnapping Petrov. On 19 April, the affair took another twist when Petrova was being escorted onto a waiting BOAC
Boac
Boac may refer to:* Boac, Marinduque, a municipality in the Southern Philippines* Boac , an American rapper* British Overseas Airways Corporation, a former British state-owned airline...
Constellation
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...
at Kingsford Smith Airport
Sydney Airport
Sydney Airport may refer to:* Sydney Airport, also known as Kingsford Smith International Airport, in Sydney, Australia* Sydney/J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport, in Nova Scotia, Canada...
by Soviet diplomatic couriers for a flight back to the Soviet Union. William Wentworth took statutory declaration
Statutory declaration
A statutory declaration is a legal document defined under the law of certain Commonwealth nations. It is similar to a statement made under oath, however, it is not sworn....
s from Russian and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n anti-communists in the crowd who had stormed the tarmac to prevent Petrova from leaving, that they had heard her say Petrova calling out in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
"I do not want to go. Save me", and asked Menzies to make the aircraft stop at Darwin in order to ask Petrova whether she wanted to leave Australia. Contrary to reports, Petrova did not cry out for help at Sydney Airport, but the aircraft did stop at Darwin Airport on a scheduled fuel-stop, enabling Australian security services to interview Petrova. After talking to Reginald Sylvester Leydin, the Government secretary, and to her husband on the phone, Petrova accepted the Australian government's offer of asylum and defected. The Soviets accused the Menzies government of manufacturing the defection of Petrov as an election stunt, ostensibly to boost his support in the upcoming elections, and on 21 April they also levelled against Petrov charges that he had misappropriated Embassy funds. Menzies dismissed the allegations, stating that he was waiting for such charges to be levelled as they were in the Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
case in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and also went on to say he believed the charges contradicted the Soviets' initial allegation that Petrov was kidnapped. The Australian government refused to hand over Petrov, who was deemed by the Soviets to be a criminal, and the Soviet government responded on 23 April 1954 by severing diplomatic relations with Australia, which saw the Soviet Embassy in Canberra being recalled and the Australian Embassy in Moscow being expelled. The Soviet decision was not unexpected, as it was thought by the Australian government to have been one possible response, but the swiftness of the decision was said to have shocked government advisers. The severance of diplomatic relations led to rumours that the Soviet Olympic team would not compete at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In the absence of diplomatic relations, the Soviet Union's interests in Australia were represented by Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Australia's interests in the Soviet Union were represented by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In aid of Soviet preparations for its commitments to the International Geophysical Year
International Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...
on 29 August 1955 and in the absence of diplomatic relations, Australia sent the Soviets a note, via the British Embassy in Moscow
Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow
The British Embassy in Moscow is the chief diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in the Russian Federation. It is located at 10 Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya in the Arbat District of Moscow...
, offering facilities in Australia for the use of the Soviets in the instance they were required. Australia wanted to keep the Soviets out of the Antarctic but wanted to avoid international condemnation for going against the spirit of the IGY. The Australians also used the note as a ruse, albeit an unsuccessful one, to force the Soviets to recognise the Australian Antarctic Territory
Australian Antarctic Territory
The Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation...
and hence, Australian claims over parts of the Antarctic. The Lena arrived in Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide lying about 14 kilometres northwest of the City of Adelaide. It lies within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and is the main port for the city of Adelaide...
on 28 March 1956 after its journey to the Antarctic. The Soviets gave free public access to the ship during its stay, and among the first people to visit the ship and meet with the crew was Douglas Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
. Australian naval intelligence exploited the situation and sent two civilian agents on board the ship while it was open to the public. It is unknown what information they would have obtained as the scientists on the ship openly shared their knowledge and demonstrated equipment to anybody who was interested, and allowed the public to wander around without obstruction. The Ob arrived in Adelaide on 21 April 1956 and was also visited by Mawson and others within the scientific community in Adelaide. The Ob was invited by the Australia–USSR Friendship Society and the Building Workers' Industrial Union to visit Melbourne and Sydney, respectively, and Mawson lobbied to have the visits go ahead, but permission was denied by Minister of External Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
Richard Casey
Richard Casey, Baron Casey
Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC KStJ PC was an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...
. The decision was criticised by Mawson, and he made note of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...
losing an opportunity to view the latest oceanographic
Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
research technology.
The two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations on 13 March 1959 and it was reported that Australia insisted on screening Soviet diplomatic personnel. The Soviet Embassy in Canberra reopened on 2 June 1959, but the Soviet Union did not have a permanent ambassador until mid-1962. On 7 February 1963 the Australian government declared First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra Ivan Skripov persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
after he was accused by ASIO of being a spy. According to ASIO, Skripov recruited Kay Marshall, an ASIO agent, firstly by giving her small tasks to gauge her suitability as an agent. In December 1962 Skripov gave Marshall a package which she was to give to a contact in Adelaide, but the contact did not meet Marshall as planned. The package, which had already been inspected by ASIO, contained coded transmission timetables for a Soviet radio station, along with a high-speed message sender which could be attached to a radio transmitter. Two months later the Australian government produced photos of meetings between Skripov and Marshall, and sent the embassy a note declaring Skripov persona non grata for "elaborate preparations for espionage" and gave him seven days to leave the country. The Australian government did not divulge what secrets Skripov may have been seeking, but it was reported that workers at the Woomera missile range underwent interrogation. The Soviets responded by stating that the materials released by ASIO proved nothing and were produced to hinder the development of friendly relations between the Soviet Union and Australia, and declared that Ambassador Ivan Kurdyukov
Ivan Kurdyukov
Ivan Fyodorovich Kurdyukov , born 1911 died 1977, was a Soviet diplomat.A member of the Russian Communist Party , Kurdyukov entered the service of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union in 1936....
, who was on sick leave in Moscow, would not return to Australia.
1963–1991
During the period of Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
, relations between Australia and the Soviet Union were seen as stronger during the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
government. On 3 July 1974, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, as Acting Foreign Minister, took the decision to grant de jure recognition of the incorporation of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
into the USSR. The Australian ambassador to Moscow visited Tallinn, Estonia, on 28–30 July 1974, effectively according de jure recognition. Soviet authorities subsequently leaked this information on 3 August 1974, confirmed by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a day later. Whitlam had neither informed nor consulted with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Willesee
Don Willesee
Donald Robert "Don" Willesee was an Australian politician, a member of the Australian Senate for 25 years representing Western Australia, and a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government....
, who had been absent abroad, the Cabinet, Caucus, nor Parliament. In taking this controversial decision Whitlam also reneged on pre-election commitments made in correspondences to organizations representing emigrees from all three Baltic nations. Willesee, who upon his return supported Whitlam's decision and subsequently confirmed Whitlam's decision as "unilateral," was eventually censured by the Australian Parliament on 18 September 1974for his part: "That the Minister for Foreign Affairs is deserving of censure and ought to resign because: in breach of a clear undertaking to the contrary given by the Prime Minister the Government shamefully and furtively extended recognition to the incorporation of the Baltic States in the U.S.S.R., the Minister withholding any announcement or explanation of the decision." During Question Time
Question Time
Question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers , which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances...
in October 1974, Whitlam explained his decision to recognise the de jure incorporation the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
into the Soviet Union was one which did not imply approval of the way in which former states were incorporated, but an acknowledgement of existing realities at the time. Whitlam, ascribed by his political opposition as "want[ing] a good response when he visits Russia", became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit Moscow in January 1975. Whitlam was not received by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
, who for "reasons of health" was unable to meet him, but instead by Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman
Premier of the Soviet Union
The office of Premier of the Soviet Union was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . Twelve individuals have been premier...
of the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR. During Whitlam's visit to the USSR, two agreements were signed between the two countries on 15 January 1975: the Agreement on scientific-technical cooperation between the USSR and Australia and the Agreement on cultural cooperation between the USSR and Australia. Following the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 and the resultant election
Australian federal election, 1975
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election following a double dissolution of both Houses....
which saw the installation of a conservative Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
-Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
coalition government under the leadership of Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
, recognition of the incorporation of the three Baltic states by the Soviet Union was rescinded by Australia in December 1975, and relations became more pragmatic.
In April 1983, ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
provided information to the Australian government concerning First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Canberra Valery Ivanov
Valery Ivanov
Valery Nikolayevich Ivanov was a Soviet diplomat.As First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy to Australia, he was expelled on 22 April 1983 under suspicion of being a spy after allegedly trying to recruit Australian Labor Party member David Combe....
. According to ASIO, Ivanov had formed a friendship with former national secretary of the Australian Labor Party David Combe
David Combe
David Combe was National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party, a political consultant and lobbyist, an Australian Trade Commissioner, a Senior Vice President International of Southcorp Wines, and a consultant to the Australian Wine Industry.-Early life:Harvey David Mathew Combe was born in 1943...
. Bill Hayden
Bill Hayden
William George "Bill" Hayden AC was the 21st Governor-General of Australia. Prior to this, he represented the Australian Labor Party in parliament; he was a minister in the government of Gough Whitlam, and later became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly losing the 1980 federal election to the...
, the Australian Foreign Minister, stated that he hoped Ivanov's expulsion would serve as an example to those who were to "work against Australia's interests". The Soviet Embassy responded by denying all charges and called the allegations "far-fetched". The Combe–Ivanov Affair was subject to a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
presided over by Robert Marsden Hope
Robert Marsden Hope
Robert Marsden Hope, AC, CMG was a Justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court and Royal Commissioner.-Biography:...
, which saw Prime Minister Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
giving evidence for 20 consecutive sitting days.
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
arrived in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
on 30 November 1987 for discussion on economics, trade and foreign policy with Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
. During the visit, Hawke gave the names of Soviet Jews who wished to leave the Soviet Union to Gorbachev, and on 4 December 1987, 60 to 75 Jews were given permission to leave the country.
Diplomatic ties
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
. Russia has an embassy in Canberra and a consulate-general in Sydney, and Australia has an embassy in Moscow
Embassy of Australia in Moscow
The Embassy of Australia in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of Australia to the Russian Federation. The chancery is located at 10A/2 Podkolokolny Lane in the Tagansky District of Moscow.- External links :...
. The current Ambassador of Russia to Australia is Alexander Viktorovich Blokhin, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
on 10 November 2005. The current Ambassador of Australia to Russia is Margaret Twomey
Margaret Twomey
Margaret Aileen Twomey is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Australia to the Russian Federation, having taken up her post in June 2008...
, who presented her credentials to President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
on 18 September 2008.
Political ties
The Russian government accepted an offer of Rosaviakosmos on 10 March 2001 to co-operate with the Asia-Pacific Space Centre in developing a spaceportSpaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories...
on Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
, an Australian territory
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. The project also saw the involvement of S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
OAO S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia , also known as RKK Energiya, is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components...
, TsSKB-Progress
Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center
The Progress State Research and Production Space Centre is a Russian "Federal State Unitary Enterprise" under the jurisdiction of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency responsible for space science and aerospace research...
and the Barmin General Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau. In aid of the project, the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Field of the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes was signed in Canberra on 23 May 2001, replacing the Agreement between the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of Australia on Cooperation in the Field of Exploration and the Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes of 1 December 1987, and import tax and other concessions were made by the Australian government. Co-operation in space was on the agenda when Alexander Downer met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
Igor Ivanov
Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov is a Russian politician and was Russian Foreign Minister from 1998 to 2004.- Early life :...
in February 2002, where the Australian side pressed the Russians to complete work on two technical agreements which were needed in order for the Christmas Island spaceport project to proceed. In June 2002 it was reported that the Russian Federal Space Agency
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
had pulled out of the deal, to instead develop a relationship with ArianeSpace
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....
with the view to using the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou
Kourou
Kourou is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America.Kourou is the location of the Guiana Space Centre, France and ESA's main spaceport.-Geography:...
in French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
.
In September 2007 President Vladimir Putin became the first encumbent Russian leader to visit Australia for the APEC summit
APEC Australia 2007
APEC Australia 2007 was a series of political meetings held around Australia between the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation during 2007...
in Sydney. On 7 September 2007, head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer
Alexander Downer
Alexander John Gosse Downer is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was Foreign Minister of Australia from March 1996 to December 2007, the longest-serving in Australian history...
, in the presence of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
and President Putin, signed the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes, superseding the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy which was concluded on 15 February 1990. The 1990 Agreement only allowed Russia to enrich
Enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99.284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0.711% of its weight...
uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
on behalf of third countries and the 2007 Agreement allowed for enriching of uranium for use in Russia's civilian nuclear power industry
Nuclear power in Russia
In 2010 total electricity generated in nuclear power plants in Russia was 170.1 TWh, 16% of all power generation. The installed capacity of Russian nuclear reactors stood at 21,244 MW....
. Putin dismissed suggestions that Russia would use Australia-supplied uranium for nuclear weapons or military purposes, and explained that Russia has an "excessive supply" of weapons-grade uranium and the State has plans to build 30 nuclear power stations by 2022, and that the Agreement with Australia was purely one of economics. Under the deal, Australia could supply Russia with US$1 billion worth of uranium, and Kiriyenko stated that Russia is ready to process 4,000 tonnes of Australian uranium.
The agreement was put into doubt after the August 2008 war in South Ossetia
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
and Russia's subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states
International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are two breakaway republics in the Caucasus with disputed status over whether they are a part of Georgia or sovereign states. The Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia were recognised following the 2008 South Ossetia War between Russia and Georgia, by six...
. Stephen Smith
Stephen Smith (Australian politician)
Stephen Francis Smith , is the Australian Minister for Defence. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1993, representing the Division of Perth, Western Australia....
, the Australian Foreign Minister, told Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia is an Australian 24 hour cable and satellite news channel available in 2.5 million homes on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television and Neighbourhood Cable subscription platforms....
in November 2008 that ratification of the agreement would see Australia reviewing Russia's involvement in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
and South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
, and also by taking into account the state of bilateral relations between the two countries. After Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 26 August 2008, Stephen Smith summoned the Russian ambassador, Alexander Blokhin, to inform him that Russia's recognition was not helpful for the situation in the region, while Blokhin informed the Australian Foreign Minister that Russia was left with no choice but to recognise the independence of the two regions. Blaming Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...
for the conflict, Blokhin told The Age that the Russians were not the aggressors, but rather the peacekeepers. Rory Medcalft, a strategic analyst with the Lowy Institute, stated that Australia could use the uranium deal to apply pressure on Moscow, but in doing so it risked sending messages to countries such as China that it is an unreliable supplier, which would in turn hurt Australian interests.
Economic ties
Australia and Russia are both members of the Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region...
forum. Simon Crean
Simon Crean
Simon Findlay Crean is an Australian politician, and the current Minister for the Arts and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government in the Australian Federal Government. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition at the Federal level,...
, the Australian Minister for Trade
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
stated in October 2008 that Australia supports Russia's application to join the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
. Russia applied for entry into the organisation in 1993, and says that the United States and European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
have placed unreasonable demands for it to accede to the organisation, although the United States and the European Union blame Russia for delays in its entry.
Investment
In September 2007, at the Russia–Australia Business Forum in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Ian Macfarlane
Ian Macfarlane (politician)
Ian Elgin Macfarlane , is an Australian politician. He was elected as a member of the Australian House of Representatives in October 1998, representing the Division of Groom, Queensland for the Liberal National Party...
, the Australian Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources
Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Australia)
The current Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research is Kim Carr, appointed on 3 December 2007. He administers his portfolio through the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.-List of Ministers for Industry :...
, estimated that Russian investment in Australia was worth between A$5 and 6 billion. The acquisition by RusAl of a 20% stake in Queensland Alumina was approved by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board in February 2005. RusAl purchased the stake from Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum is an American aluminum producer. The company was founded in 1946 by American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Kaiser entered the aluminum business by leasing, then purchasing three government-owned aluminum facilities in Washington state. These were the primary reduction plants at...
in October 2004, in a deal which was valued at US$461 million. The investment by RusAl was the first large-scale Russian investment in the Australian economy. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works , abbreviated as MMK, is the third largest steel company in Russia. It is located in the city of Magnitogorsk, in Chelyabinsk Oblast....
, headed by Viktor Rashnikov, increased its stake in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group
Fortescue Metals Group
Fortescue Metals Group is an Australian iron ore mining company. The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km² in the Pilbara region of Western Australia making it the largest tenement holder in the state. It is listed as FMG on the Australian Securities Exchange .In 2008, the group loaded...
from 4.71 percent to 5.37 in August 2007, and the following month advised the Australian Government it wished to increase its stake, with a potential value of A$1.5 billion. It is expected by the 2050, the 2.7 billion people of the BRIC
BRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development...
countries—Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Russia, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
—will treble consumption of steel, which will require steel production to double from 2007 limits. Alan Carpenter
Alan Carpenter
Alan John Carpenter is a former Australian politician. He was the 28th Premier of Western Australia, serving from 2006 to 2008. He took office following the resignation of Dr Geoff Gallop...
, the Premier of Western Australia
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
, welcomed Russian investment in his state's economy
Economy of Western Australia
The Western Australian economy is a state economy dominated by its resources and services sector and largely driven by the export of iron-ore, gold, liquefied natural gas and agricultural commodities such as wheat. Covering an area of 2.5 million km2, the state is Australia's largest, accounting...
, telling Lateline Business
Lateline Business
Lateline Business is a late night half hour business news television programme on ABC1 & ABC News 24 in Australia. The program is currently presented by ABC business journalist Ticky Fullerton....
, "[t]he more we can get from international investment to deliberate the potential of Western Australia's economy, the better". In April 2008, Carpenter became the first Western Australian Premier to visit Russia, when he headed a trade delegation for a five day trip to the country to court more Russian investment in the state.
Trade statistics
In 2008, Australian-Russian bilateral trade exceeded US$1 billion for the first time. Russia imported US$1.029 billion worth of goods and servicesGoods and services
In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility. It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax....
from Australia in 2008, while its exports to Australia were valued at US$82 million, bringing the total to US$1,111 billion. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, trade with Australia accounted for 0.2% of all Russian foreign trade in 2008.
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Total Australian exports to Russia (A$ '000) | 151,380 | 185,537 | 335,601 | 654,235 | 661,392 | 1,115,051 | 584,541 |
| Total Russian exports to Australia (A$ '000) | 38,829 | 58,881 | 100,833 | 63,832 | 126,514 | 599,727 | 357,582 |
See also
- Foreign relations of AustraliaForeign relations of AustraliaThe foreign relations of Australia have spanned from the country's time as Dominion and later Realm of the Commonwealth to become steadfastly allied with New Zealand through long-standing ANZAC ties dating back to the early 1900s, and the United States throughout the Cold War, to its engagement...
- Foreign relations of RussiaForeign relations of RussiaThe foreign relations of Russia is the policy of the Russian government by which it guides the interactions with other nations, their citizens and foreign organizations and sets standards of interaction for Russian organizations, corporations and individual citizens towards them...