Foreign News: I No Longer Believe ...

Vladimir Mikhailovich Petrov seemed rather elderly (about 45) to be only a third secretary, which was the post he filled for the past three years in the Soviet embassy at Canberra. But Petrov appeared to wield more authority than his rank called for. Plump and spectacled, he paid little attention to the rules of purdah for Russians abroad—he was affable, a good mixer, spoke fair English, frequented hotel bars, went on fishing trips with Westerners. With his pretty blonde wife, an embassy stenographer, he lived in a comfortable brick house less than a quarter of a mile from the embassy.

Last week...

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