Big Small Talk BIG TALK: The Petrov Affair PART ONE
In this Big Talk, we are very excited to be unpacking the world of spies during the Cold War.
The Cold War was one nerve-wracking periods in modern history. So in part one, we explore how its paranoia, politics, and power struggles impacted the whole world, but specifically, Australia.
We’ll look at how this global rivalry between the Western and Eastern nations sparked the creation of ASIO and how everyday fears of communist infiltration seeped into our politics, our media, and the public’s imagination.
But at the centre of this Cold War storm was a truly wild Australian story: the Petrovs.
In this episode we begin to tell the story of Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov, Soviet diplomats living a quiet life in Canberra - until it was revealed they were actually Soviet spies leaking information back to the USSR.