“(It would) benefit the Australian aerospace industry community by helping small and medium-sized enterprises gain access to the best decision-makers in the global aerospace industry,” the application documentation said.
Once in Australia, she briefly worked for consulting firm Deloitte before moving to an aerospace company and eventually to the town of Marion. Before arriving in Australia, Soloub worked for at least one Irish politician.
ASIO Director General Mike Burgess.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A source with intimate knowledge of her activities said she consistently sought to establish contacts with state and federal officials, including at Australia’s National Space Agency and within Adelaide’s aerospace and technology business community.
Many former senior Defense Department officials work in the space industry, including one who told this masthead that they had regular contact with Sologub.
The revelation that ASIO had advised Sologub could threaten national security provides a rare insight into the intelligence agency’s operations and comes a day after this masthead revealed how the security agency spent months dismantling a separate “hive” of suspected Russian spies operating out of Moscow. diplomatic posts.
Loading
The age and the Herald reported Friday that an alleged Russian spy ring whose members used their diplomatic status to carry out espionage had been dismantled in an aggressive ASIO investigation.
Sologub had no diplomatic or government status, but she claimed in a document obtained by this masthead to have “direct access to key decision-makers” in the Russian government.
The age and the Herald do not suggest that Sologub is a spy or that ASIO’s assessment that she poses a security risk is correct, only that it was made by the agency’s director general.
The age and the Herald have obtained a series of documents, including a resume, that shed light on Sologub’s story. According to a source associated with authorities, the documents have been reviewed by Australian officials.
In the documents, Sologub claimed to have worked in the Irish aerospace industry and before that as a personal assistant to Irish politician Willie Penrose and as an intern for an unnamed Irish MP.
“She will benefit the Australian aerospace industry community by helping small and medium-sized enterprises gain access to the best decision-makers in the global aerospace industry.”
Extract from Marina Sologub visa application documents
Between 2011 and 2017, documents created by Sologub state that she worked for the National Space Center in Cork, Ireland.
Sologub claimed to have been “responsible for founding the Irish Space Industry Group” and “for running the annual European Satellite Navigation Competition in Ireland”.
She called her most important professional achievement “the development of an intergovernmental agreement between the Republic of Ireland and the Russian Federation on the use of space for civil purposes”.
Loading
Sologub also claimed that she was “in close contact with both governments to develop comprehensive document development grounds for mutual space cooperation.”
“As a result, I have direct access to key decision-makers in both government departments,” she wrote.
Russia has a storied space industry and has previously collaborated with Australia’s main ally, the US, in the space arena, although Washington recently imposed sanctions on the Russian space industry.
Sologub’s application to obtain a distinctive talent visa was signed by a South Australian government official based in London.
Loading
It describes how Sologub would contribute to South Australia given her background and because the state “hosts the National Australian Space Agency Headquarters, Mission Control Facility, Space Discovery Centre, Defense and Space Landing Pad”.
The visa document also describes how “Marina is an exceptionally organized … (and) is known worldwide and has direct access to key decision-makers in major space agencies”.
After arriving in Australia in September 2020, Sologub briefly worked at a private aerospace company and Deloitte’s Adelaide office.
On her LinkedIn account, she claimed to have helped Deloitte support the “first Australian mission to the moon” and to have written submissions “for the Australian Space Agency”.
A source at the consulting firm said Sologub had worked at Deloitte for 12 weeks following a criminal and employment screening and had no contact with Deloitte clients, including government agencies.
An email seen by this masthead shows that a Home Affairs Department official contacted Sologub in March 2021 and asked her if the federal government could promote her story on its global talent website.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights of the day. Register here.
