Marina Sologub, a 39 year old Irish citizen, who was born in Kazakhstan has been ordered to leave Australia after the country labeled her a threat to the country. Australia’s Security Intelligence Organisation believe she is a spy working for the Russian state.
It was stated that Sologub was working at the Australian space industry, and she was sharing ‘extensive interactions with diplomatic staff from the Russian embassy’ while at the agency, based in Adelaide state in Western Australia. She was also making great efforts to communicate or build relationships with various Australian politicians and agencies.
New details have also emerged that Sologub had also worked at the Irish Government offices, along with working at the National Space Centre in Cork. It’s possible she was involved in sharing classified information at Irish government level to Russian state agencies.
The Sydney Morning Herald, one of the more well known Newspapers in Australia, reported that Ms Sologub had no diplomatic or government status, but she claimed in one document to have ‘direct access to key decision-makers’ in the Russian government.
After being labeled a “‘direct or indirect threat’ to national security,” in Australia, she has requested consular help from the Irish embassy in Australia, which she is entitled to as an Irish citizen. Her work visa for Australia has been canceled and she will likely be deported.