The Australian Government’s action follows a series of recent expulsions of Soviet diplomats by Western Governments. A Canberra source said last night that intelligence information on Mr. Ivanov came from Britain. A Soviet intelligence man recently defected to the British in Beirut. Earlier yesterday, the United States expelled three Soviet officials for spying, one of them a diplomat caught with film of secret US Government documents. The only other Australian expulsion of a Soviet diplomat was in 1963 and the Soviets retaliated by expelling an Australian official in Moscow. Australia warned yesterday that any retaliation this time might provoke further Australian action. Mr. Hayden summoned the Soviet Ambassador to Australia, Dr. Soudarikov, to his office yesterday to arrange for Mr. Ivanov’s departure. Ivanov and wife, Vera, and daughter, Irena, on their way out of the country. Credit:Antonin Cermak

“I said that an accumulation of incidents since Mr. Ivanov’s arrival in Australia in 1981, now confirmed by information which has come to hand since the change of Government, has led the Government to conclude that he is a professional intelligence officer of the Committee for State Security (KGB),”Mr. Hayden said in a prepared statement to a Press conference. “I pointed out that by his actions Mr. Ivanov had threatened Australia’s national security in a way which could not be tolerated by the Government.” The Opposition Leader, Mr. Peacock, was briefed on the reasons for the expulsion, said the Government’s decision was “absolutely correct” and had the Opposition’s full support. The Soviet Embassy claimed to be “bewildered” by the Australian Government’s action. An embassy official issued a two-paragraph statement to reporters which said the embassy categorically rejected the “farfetched and groundless accusations” against Mr. Ivanov.

“The embassy states that all its staff strictly abide by the rules and regulations existing in this country. The embassy sees no reasons whatsoever for such a decision by the Australian Government.” Loading Mr. Ivanov, aged in his 30s, is married with one child. He lives in the Canberra suburb of Curtin, speaks good English and is described as being in the embassy’s “political” section. His name is listed in the Canberra telephone directory. Mr. Hayden refused to give details about the reasons for Mr. Ivanov’s expulsion and would not answer any questions. He said he had been given advice, including some from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, that it would be undesirable for him to go beyond the contents of a formal statement.

“To go beyond the contents of this statement could innocently but quite effectively and easily signal to other sources the range of information available to us, the sources available to us, the methods which are adopted, at least to some extent. That would be detrimental to the security of the State and the operation of our security service,” Mr. Hayden said. Loading A Foreign Affairs spokesman said last night that Mr. Hayden told Dr. Soudarikov that the Soviet Union had no grounds for any reciprocal action. In February 1963, Soviet First Secretary Ivan Fredorovich Skripov was given seven days to leave, after being accused by the Australian Government of trying to organise spying. In May that year the Soviet Union expelled then First Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Moscow, Mr. Bill Morrison, now a Federal Labor MP. The Soviet Embassy in Canberra said yesterday afternoon that Mr. Ivanov was not in Canberra, and was believed to be returning from Melbourne.