THE LAPSTONE CONFERENCE REVISITED. PAVLOV, A MAN OF INTEREST?

VITALY PAVLOV

Vitaly Pavlov

Amongst the list of delegates at the Lapstone conference  in 1948, was the name 'Pavlov'. We only have that name courtesy of a handwritten list found in MI5 files. and just a surname at that. 

Mr. Pavlov arrived at Lapstone on the 30th November and departed on the 1st December 1948 just one day into the conference.

The man in the photograph to the left is one Vitaly Grigorievich Pavlov. The critical question is, could this be the same Pavlov who attended at Lapstone because if it was, then we would have placed a serious Soviet intelligence asset in Australia in the same time frame as the death of the Somerton Man.

The Vitaly Pavlov on this photograph had quite a track record as a Soviet spy. From being found hidden in a cupboard in 1945 at the Ottawa, Canada home of the Soviet cipher clerk and defector Igor Gouzenko, to a rapid rise through the ranks of the Soviet Intelligence services, Vitaly is not a man to be taken lightly. He was an operative, a 'legal' resident in Canada to use the correct term. A member of the NKGB, he acted under the cover of being a Soviet Consular official. Interestingly, that was much like our friend Pavel Fedosimov. In fact if my memory serves me correctly, Pavel and Vitaly may have both been in Ottawa at around the same time in 1946, note for file, must remember to check that out. It was in 1946 that Viraly was declared 'persona non grata' by Canada and was soon on his way back to the mother country.

On 1947, Vitaly transferred to the then newly organised directorate of illegal operations. It was in that role that he was instrumental in setting up the illegal operations for a number of Soviet spies including William Fischer who became 'Rudolph Abel', a renowned Soviet Spy. The Fischer operation kicked off with his successful insertion into Canada in October 1948. Why is this relevant? Because it shows the Russian technique of creating false identities and setting up spy networks and infrastructures to support them and of course the direct involvement of our man Vitaly Pavlov.

Let's be certain on this, we do not know whether the Pavlov at Lapstone was Vitaly Pavlov, but as a matter of interest, he arrived in Lapstone on 30th November and departed on 1st December which overlapped with the arrival of one Feodor Nosov, the head of the Sydney Office of the KGB at that time. Perhaps there was time for a quick operational review? I wouldn't have thought it was the done thing to have two high-end assets together in the same location for more than just a brief encounter, it might attract too much interest.

Where does the attendee Pavlov fit into the scheme of things? Really not sure at the moment, early days. And of course, we must first clarify whether this is Vitaly. Time to dig deeper into the ASIO and MI5 files to see just what we can find. Will update this down the track as we bring a few more loose ends together.