page_title: Australia–Russia relations
section_title: 1941–1948
hierarchical_section_title: Australia–Russia relations / History and background / Soviet Union / 1941–1948
caption_attribution_description: English: Mr A P Vlasov, First Soviet Minister to Australia, at Government House after presenting his credentials. Seated left to right: Dr H V Evatt, Mr A P Vlasov, Governor-General Lord Gowrie, Prime Minister John Curtin. Standing left to right: Lt Col W R Hodgson, Messrs Soldatov, Schibaev and Carpunin, Captain L S Bracegirdle. Русский: Первый Чрезвычайный и Полномочный Посланник СССР в Австралии Власов, у Дома Правительства после церемонии вручения верительных грамот. Сидят, слева направо: Эватт, Власов, генерал-губернатор лорд Гаури, премьер-министр Джон Кертин. Стоят, слева направо: подполковник Ходгсон, Солдатов, Шибаев, Карпунин, капитан Брейсгердл.
context_page_description: Australia – Russia relations date back to 1807, when the Russian warship Neva arrived in Sydney as part of its circumnavigation of the globe. Consular relations between Australia and the Russian Empire were established in 1857. Diplomatic relations between Australia and the Soviet Union were established in 1942, and the first Australian embassy opened in 1943. At present, relations between the two countries have severely deteriorated following Russia's involvement in Ukraine as well as the suspected involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which claimed the lives of 38 Australians. Relations were tested as Putin arrived for the 2014 G20 Summit in Brisbane, Queensland, among reports Russian warships were closing in on Australian waters. According to a 2017 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 37% of Australians have a favorable view of Russia, with 55% expressing an unfavorable view.
context_section_description: After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 during World War II, the Labor government of John Curtin began to discuss sending a diplomatic delegation to the Soviet Union. The Congress of Friendship and Aid to the Soviet urged the posting of Australian diplomats in the Soviet Union, and also pushed for exchanging military, air and naval missions between the two countries. HMAS Norman in October 1941 visited Arkhangelsk bringing a British trade delegation from Iceland; marking the beginning of the Lend-Lease program in support of the Soviet Union. H. V. Evatt, the Australian Minister for External Affairs on 4 November 1941 wrote in a secret submission to the war cabinet that the Government had received a large number of representations from interested parties since the outbreak of the Russo-German War, and that the major views in support of sending a diplomatic delegation to the Soviet Union included the necessity to provide material and moral support to the Soviet Union and to encourage its resistance against the Germans, the sharing of a common interest in policy towards Japan and the Middle East, and the potential for Australian-Soviet trade, and its importance to the Australian economy.
  Whilst Australia's reasons for the exchange of diplomatic missions were known, it was also understood that the Soviet government believed at first that the exchange would serve no great purpose, due to the minimal ties between the two countries, commercial or otherwise. Both countries acknowledged that if relations, particularly trade relations, were to become a reality that diplomatic relations would be required as a formality. Evatt began negotiations with Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov in London in May 1942, and the 10 October 1942 agreement between the two countries to exchange diplomatic representatives was regarded in Australia as a diplomatic coup; given the Soviet Union's position as a great power in the Pacific region. The first diplomatic representatives were Andrey Vlasov for the Soviet Union, and William Slater for Australia. 
  In 1942–43, joint Commonwealth naval and air forces, under British commanders, were based in North Russia, while involved in convoys bringing supplies to the Soviet Union. For instance, under the code name Operation Orator, between August and November 1942, a British-Australian air wing – including 455 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, operated Handley Page Hampden torpedo bombers from bases near Murmansk, where they successfully deterred operations off North Cape by German battleships and cruisers. 
  Slater opened the Australian Legation in Kuybyshev, the temporary seat of the Soviet government, on 2 January 1943, and moved to Moscow on 12 August 1943. Vlasov arrived in Canberra on 5 March 1943 to head the Soviet Legation, and presented his Letters of Credence to Governor-General Lord Gowrie on 10 March 1943 at Government House. The Soviet Legation in Canberra was upgraded to Embassy status on 12 July 1945 and the Australian Legation in Moscow was upgraded on 16 February 1948.
caption: Soviet Ambassador Andrey Vlasov presents his credentials at Government House, Canberra, March 1943. Front (left to right): H. V. Evatt, Andrey Vlasov, Governor-General Lord Gowrie, Prime Minister John Curtin. Back (left to right): Lt-Col W. R. Hodgson (?), Soldatov (?), Schibatev (?), Karpunin, L. S. Bracegirdle.
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