A consultant working in the Australian space industry who boasted of close ties to the Russian government and who spent months cultivating Australian government and business contacts has been declared a potential national security threat by the nation’s spy chief.

Sources have confirmed ASIO recently advised the federal government to expel Kazakhstan-born Marina Sologub more than two years after she travelled from her home in Ireland to Adelaide on a distinguished talent visa.

Marina Sologub has been assessed as having the potential to pose a direct or indirect threat to national security.

The sources, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential material, said ASIO director-general Mike Burgess assessed that the 38-year-old Sologub could pose a direct or indirect threat to national security.

Her latest employer, the City of Marion in South Australia, confirmed in a statement that Sologub had advised them that her visa had been cancelled.

Acting chief executive Ben Keen said Sologub was a contractor employed by an agency.

“After she advised of her visa situation, her access to all council devices was logged out and the devices reset as per council procedure. The City of Marion has taken the appropriate steps to cease her contract,” he said. “The City of Marion is currently analysing all information that has been accessed as per our policy and procedures.”

Asked about Sologub’s status and what action was taken, Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil said the government would always take swift and appropriate action on national security matters.

Application documents obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reveal Sologub, who has Irish citizenship, was nominated by the South Australian government for the distinguished talent visa in February 2020.

“[She would bring] benefit to the Australian space industry community by helping small and medium enterprises with access to the top decision-makers in global space industry,” the application documentation says.

Once in Australia, she worked briefly for consulting firm Deloitte before moving to a space industry company and finally to the City of Marion. Before her arrival in Australia, Sologub worked for at least one Irish politician.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

A source with deep knowledge of her activities said she consistently attempted to make contacts with state and federal officials, including at Australia’s national space agency, and within Adelaide’s space and technology business community.

Many former senior defence department officials work in the space sector including one who told this masthead they had frequent contact with Sologub.

The revelation that ASIO had advised that Sologub could threaten national security gives a rare insight into the intelligence agency’s operations and comes a day after this masthead revealed how the security agency has spent months dismantling a separate “hive” of suspected Russian spies operating out of Moscow’s diplomatic posts.

The Age and the Herald reported on Friday that a suspected Russian spy ring whose members used their diplomatic status to conduct espionage was dismantled in an aggressive ASIO investigation.

Sologub had no diplomatic or government status, but she claimed in one document obtained by this masthead to have “direct access to key decision-makers” in the Russian government.

The Age and the Herald are not suggesting that Sologub is a spy or that ASIO’s assessment that she poses a security risk is accurate, only that it has been made by the agency’s director-general.

The Age and the Herald have obtained a range of documents, including a CV, that cast light on Sologub’s story. According to a source who had dealings with authorities, the documents were assessed by Australian officials.

In the documents, Sologub claimed to have worked in Ireland’s space industry and, before that, as a personal assistant to Irish politician Willie Penrose and as an intern for an unnamed Irish member of parliament.

‘She will benefit the Australian space industry community by helping small and medium enterprises with access to the top decision-makers in global space industry.’

Between 2011 and 2017, documents created by Sologub state that she worked for the National Space Centre in Cork, Ireland.

Sologub claimed to have been “responsible for the establishment of the Irish Space Industry Group” and “for the management of the annual European Satellite Navigation Competition in Ireland”.

She listed her most significant professional achievement as “the development of intergovernmental agreement between Republic of Ireland and Russia Federation in use of space for civil purposes”.

Sologub also claimed she liaised “closely with both governments in order to develop comprehensive document developing grounds for mutual collaboration in the space”.

“As a result, I have a direct access to key decision-makers in both government departments,” she wrote.

Russia has a storied space industry and has previously co-operated with Australia’s key ally, the US, in the space arena, although Washington recently placed sanctions on Russia’s aerospace industry.

Sologub’s application to obtain a distinguished talent visa was signed by a South Australian government official based in London.

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, Defence and Space Landing Pad”.

The visa document also describes how “Marina is an exceptionally organised … [and] is well known globally and have a direct access to the key decision makers in major space agencies”.

After arriving in Australia in September 2020, Sologub worked briefly at a private space industry company and at Deloitte’s Adelaide office.

On her LinkedIn account, she claimed to have helped Deloitte support the “first Australian Mission to the Moon” and have written submissions “for the Australian Space Agency”.

A source at the consulting firm said that Sologub had worked for 12 weeks at Deloitte after undergoing criminal and employment screening and had no contact with any Deloitte clients, including government agencies.

An email seen by this masthead reveals that in March 2021, an official from the Home Affairs Department contacted Sologub and asked her if the federal government could promote her story on its global talent website.

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