Around 1945, Bialoguski had made himself known to the Commonwealth Investigation Service, the forerunner of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and was recruited to gather information from Russian immigrants. Bob Wake, who ran the Brisbane office of the CIS, was one of the first CIS officers to work with Bialoguski. When Wake became an ASIO director in Sydney he paid Bialoguski about five pounds a week for information. Wake's story can be found in the non-fiction work No Ribbons or Medals: the story of an Australian counter espionage officer.Austlit; Retrieved 19 August 2013 In 1951 in Sydney he met Vladimir Petrov, who had recently arrived from the Soviet Union to take up his post as third secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra. They cultivated each other's friendship, spending much time together, drinking and visiting prostitutes in Kings Cross. Bialoguski played a double game for some time, appearing to be spying on Petrov's behalf while simultaneously spying on Petrov himself for ASIO. He was able to confirm ASIO's suspicions that Petrov was spying for the KGB in Australia.Museum of Australian Democracy After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the execution of Lavrentiy Beria, Bialoguski and Ron Richards were able to persuade Petrov that it was not safe for him to return. In return for a promise of safety and a substantial amount of cash, Petrov defected in April 1954. His wife Evdokia was initially unaware he had taken this action; although she was recalled, she did not want to leave her husband, but knew that to remain in Australia against her government's wishes would have placed her sister Tamara in danger back home. In the end, amid extraordinary scenes at Sydney and Darwin airports, she too defected.Robert Manne, "Mrs Petrov's death brings bizarre affair to end", The Age, 27 July 2002Evan Whitton, [https://archive.ph/gRZs8 Trial by Voodoo: Why the Law Defeats Justice and Democracy], Chapter 19 Bialoguski was a witness for ASIO at the subsequent Royal Commission on Espionage, which commenced the following month.History Cooperative The Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Herbert Vere Evatt, LLD, who appeared at the Royal Commission to defend his staff members whose names had been dragged into the affair, characterised the whole episode as "The Petrov-Bialoguski Affair".
