KGB man Lev Koshlyakov admits ASIO penetrated by Russians

A Russian KGB chief posted to Canberra has admitted for the first time that there was a mole inside ASIO during the Cold War.

Former KGB operative Lev Kosh­lyakov.

A Russian KGB station chief ­posted to Canberra in the late 1970s has admitted for the first time that there was a mole inside ASIO during the Cold War.

The admission, by former KGB operative Lev Kosh­lyakov who served in Canberra between 1977 and 1984, is the first by a KGB agent who served in Australia.

Mr Koshlyakov, a dapper dresser who befriended journalists and hung out at the National Press Club in his cover role as the Soviet embassy’s press and information officer, almost certainly ran the mole himself. He was described by ASIO in its official history as “one of the most dangerous KGB officers ever posted to Australia”.

His admission comes after ASIO admitted for the first time in 2016 that it was penetrated by the Soviets during the Cold War.

But Mr Koshlyakov also claims the KGB’s penetration of ASIO during his time in Canberra gave little benefit to Moscow, strategically or politically.

In emails exchanged in Dec­ember 2016 with defence expert and former ASIO informant Paul Dibb, the now retired Mr Koshlyakov says he read the third volume of ASIO’s official history in which ASIO admits to being penetrated. In the emails to Professor Dibb, the former KGB agent refers to the mole as the “source”.

“I read volume three ... the mole hunt in the ending chapter was interesting reading,” the former KGB agent says in one email to Professor Dibb from his Moscow home.

“The fact that ASIO admitted it and revealed the pain of investigation made credit to its leadership. Maybe it could not neglect it in (the) face of ASIO know(ing) much more about it but maybe over-estimate the importance of this source in political terms. I think that ­mutual penetration of services is a kind of internal spy game bringing very little benefit politically and strategically.

“The greatest successes are ­obviously with the real sources like atomic spies (Soviet traitors Adolf) Tolkachev or (Oleg) Penkovsky to mention a few.”

The revelation comes ahead of the release next week of a book by Professor Dibb called Inside the Wilderness of Mirrors, in which he details his life as an ASIO informant and Soviet expert during the Cold War. Professor Dibb ­recounts how he was approached and recruited by ASIO and spent almost 20 years living a double life as one of the country’s foremost defence experts while also reporting to ASIO on the identity of KGB spies in Australia. Professor Dibb also says ASIO wanted him to try to recruit KGB agents to ­become informers.

As The Australian revealed in 2016, Professor Dibb was later ­investigated by ASIO on suspicion of being a double agent, but the ­inquiry was soon dropped after no evidence was found.

The new book, an exclusive ­extract of which is published in The Weekend Australian today, also reveals his key role in warning the government about the military threat posed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Professor Dibb, the architect of Australia’s modern defence policy, warned successive governments that joint US-Australian defence facilities such as Pine Gap, Nurrungar and North West Cape could be targeted by Moscow in a conflict.

The mole within ASIO is suspected to have initially been ­recruited by Geronty Lazovik, a KGB officer based at the Soviet embassy in Canberra from 1971-77.

When ASIO rushed to examine its files on Lazovik in the 1980s it found they were gone. “The 19 volumes previously kept by the Canberra office had been ­destroyed in February 1980 without a reason being recorded,” ASIO said in its official history. “While not conclusive, this in ­itself was a possible indication of unauthorised and untoward ­action by somebody.”

­Although Mr Koshlyakov is the first KGB agent to have served in Canberra to admit the existence of a mole, other former KGB agents overseas have long claimed that one existed. KGB defectors such as Oleg Kalugin and Vasili Mitrokhin provided compelling evidence that there was a mole within ASIO during the 1970s and 80s. Kalugin wrote that the KGB had “excellent sources in Australia”, including “productive moles in Australian intelligence who passed us documents from the CIA and British ­intelligence”.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia.