Evdokia Petrova

Who was Evdokia Petrova?

Evdokia Alexeyevna Petrova was a Russian spy in Australia in the 1950s. She married Vladimir Petrov, and came to prominence with him during the Petrov Affair.

She was born and raised in the Soviet Union. She worked as a bureaucrat in the state run forced labor camps or gulags. In 1951 she was posted with her husband as a diplomat to Australia, though her real work was as a spy, in the rank of captain, against the Australian government. In this capacity she provided clerical, cypher, and operational assistance to the Soviet embassy in Canberra.

With her husband she defected to Australia in 1954. This happened at Darwin Airport, at the height of the Petrov Affair. The Petrovs' memoirs of the episode were contained in their book "Empire of Fear", which was ghost-written by Michael Thwaites.

To help protect their identities in Australia, the Petrovs took the names Sven and Maria Allyson. Although the press agreed not to identify them, they did not always observe this voluntary protection order. She became an Australian citizen in 1956. She found work as a typist for William Adams Tractors. Vladmir Petrov died in 1991, but she was not able to attend his funeral due to media attention.